Macapagal's secret
pact with the US



FROM VARIOUS news reports this week, and judging from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's silence, it is clear that her administration has signed a secret agreement with the US military for the elimination of the Abu Sayyaf group in the southern province of Sulu during the joint military exercises dubbed Balitakan 03-1.

Pentagon sources were leaking like mad last week telling the Washington Post and other American newspapers that a 300-strong Green Beret unit would actually engage in fighting alongside Philippine troops in Sulu. Philippine legislators were caught off-guard, and many were furious at the Macapagal administration's secret agreement with the US military, that no one it seems, outside of a very small group of advisors, was told about.

Military cooperation with the Americans is always a touchy for any government, but is especially so now as the Bush administration ramps up in preparation for an Iraq war that is hardly supported anywhere in the world. This perhaps explains why both the Macapagal and Bush administrations decided to keep the details of this year's joint military exercises a secret.

But it is one of the beauties of free societies that no secret can remain so for very long when there is a free press that is constantly hungry for news and is not afraid to expose official wrongdoings.

The strange thing though with this whole affair is how quick official US sources were ready to leak the "secret" to the press. It almost seemed like a deliberate attempt to embarrass and force President Macapagal into accepting American military demands. Or perhaps it was only meant to give that impression.

President Macapagal has been the most enthusiastic Bush supporter in Asia, vocally supporting his war on terrorism. It was only this week that she toned down her hawkish support of an impending US attack on Iraq, perhaps chastened by the recent global anti-war demonstrations and overwhelming opposition to a war at home.

But don't be fooled. I don't believe for one moment that the President has changed her views or has become less pro-American. She's just being more circumspect about it. Instead of being the magnet of criticisms, the President is only too glad to deflect attacks onto other people such as Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, or to just play dumb by seeming to ignore certain issues. It's the classic "good cop, bad cop" routine.

Just look at what's happening in the current military offensive against the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Maguindanao. The President denies that she ordered the military to overrun the MILF's Buliok complex in the town of Pikit in North Cotabato province. Can Reyes really disobey her orders and still survive as defense secretary? I hardly think so.

Going back to the Abu Sayyaf menace, I do think that many of the local population welcome US assistance in hunting down these criminals who rule Sulu with impunity, armed and financed with the millions of dollars in ransom they got for releasing European hostages a few years ago. It is hardly the time to become all nationalistic and indignant when it comes to dealing with these vicious criminals who think nothing of indiscriminately kidnapping, raping and beheading innocent civilians.

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THE PERENNIAL problem of stranded OFWs in Saudi Arabia continues, with no quick solution in sight. Mean and greedy employers, a strict labor and visa system and abused workers are a lethal cocktail that produces so many cases of distressed Filipino workers who just fall through the cracks.

Add to that lethargic Filipino diplomats and labor officials, and many distressed workers never receive help or receive it only after many weeks, and sometimes months, of waiting.

As with many things in life, many of the problems that runaway or abused OFWs face can be solved with money. But with most OFWs not swimming in money to begin with, this means that long waits are mandatory. With little hope of finding swift justice in labor courts, most runaway OFWs just want to go home to the Philippines and their families. Their problems begin when sponsors demand payoffs to authorize exit visas. This is why hundreds of OFWs remain stranded here with no solution in sight.

The "Barya Mo" (Your Loose Change) fundraising community project in the Kingdom has been successful in raising some money to help distressed OFWs, but is still desperately short of funds to help more than just a handful of OFWs.

The Philippine ambassador to the Kingdom, Bahnarim Guinomla, should ask the Philippine government to deploy more case officers to deal with the growing Filipino population in Saudi jails. A recent experience of a Filipino looking for a jailed colleague in Riyadh that I read about on an OFW discussion website, told of constant calls to case workers at the Philippine embassy in Riyadh going unanswered or ignored. When the man finally went to the embassy himself to meet a welfare officer he had to wait for more than one hour before he was even allowed inside. Once inside, the case officer denied that the colleague was on a list of 50 Filipinos recently jailed. It was only when this man went to the prison himself that he found his colleague, who was later released into the custody of the sponsor.

I know that Filipino officials are sometimes overwhelmed with so many cases of distressed OFWs to attend to. But it would be nice for once to actually see some welfare officers who actually do their jobs efficiently and with enthusiasm.

Visit the author's website at http://www.manilamoods.com to read past columns.