Arroyo warns "evil" elements trying to kill US-Philippines ties
Arroyo warns "evil" elements trying to kill US-Philippines ties
Agencies Washington/Manila
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo on late Tuesday warned "evil" elements were bent on crushing the alliance between Washington and Manila but promised to confront and destroy fear and terror.
Winding up her state visit to Washington, a day after meeting President George W. Bush, Arroyo delivered a strongly worded speech to the U.S.-ASEAN business council, also highlighting her campaign against domestic corruption.
"There are those with an evil agenda who wish to disrupt this relationship," said Arroyo at a gala dinner hosted by the council.
"We in the Philippines shall continue to work side by side with the United States as strongly as ever to overcome the terrorism that knows no bounds so that we can together transform fear into peace, progress and prosperity in the world."
Arroyo spoke on a day when the U.S. authorities raised their terror alert level to orange, its second-highest mark, following attacks in Morocco and Saudi Arabia and warnings new strikes were likely.
"We have to go on, we have to defy the threat, we have to defy the fear, by confronting it, fighting it and destroying it," she said, drawing warm applause.
Arroyo is seen in Washington as a staunch ally in the U.S. campaign against global terrorism launched after the Sept. 11 attacks, and supported the U.S.-led war on Iraq.
Before she left Manila at the weekend, Arroyo ordered a new assault on the largest separatist force in the country, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and both she and Bush on Monday vowed to finally finish off another group, the Abu Sayyaf, which they have said has links to al-Qaeda.
"Some loud voices denounce a closer alliance with the United States but let my state visit here be a message to those peddle in the false currency of terror," Arroyo said at the dinner.
"The U.S. can help us help wipe out terrorism at home as it wipes out terrorism within its own borders."
Bush told Arroyo on Monday at the White House that the United States planned to designate the Philippines as a major non-NATO ally.
The Philippine leader also used her speech on Tuesday night to pledge that her fight against corruption in the government would continue, and cited new moves against tax cheats as evidence of her desire to make the Philippines a safe destination for foreign investment.
In Manila, Philippine police on Wednesday arrested seven alleged Moro rebels said to have been plotting bombing attacks in the capital Manila as three others were killed in a clash on the southern island of Mindanao.
The arrested suspects, Abdulbasit Macalaw, 33, Jimmy Salik, 39, Abdulwahid Mamuro, 38, Ricky Mendoza, 26, Into Kamid, 68 and Arip Macalaw, 40, were believed to be members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
National police deputy chief Reynaldo Velasco said the seven were among 75 men rounded up at dawn on Wednesday in a Manila seafront slum district.
Meanwhile, Malaysia urged the Philippines and Moro separatist rebels on Wednesday to stop fighting and return to negotiations or risk turning the southern Philippines into another Aceh.
Malaysian Ambassador Mohamed Taufik, whose government has been mediating between Manila and the MILF, made the comments as a military offensive against the rebels entered its fifth day on the southern island of Mindanao.