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.