Arroyo to Thank Bush For His Help

June 16, 2008  --  Got something to say?
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Filams plan ‘warm’ welcome in D.C.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is arriving June 23 in Washington to personally thank President George W. Bush for the help he gave the Philippines the last 8 years.
The President will meet with Bush at the White House on June 24 to discuss issues about security, economic aid, the food and oil crises and possibly the veterans bill which is still pending in the US House.
Manila newspapers have described the meeting of the two as as a “quack fest” because both are now “lameducks”, with Bush ending his term Jan. 20 next year and Arroyo in 2010.
Arroyo and a large entourage will be in DC and New York up to June 29.
Reports are that activist groups are preparing to give the Philippine president a very “warm welcome here and in New York.”

By Rodney J. Jaleco
WASHINGTON D.C. Filipino-Americans here plan a warm welcome for President Arroyo when she arrives June 23, but she also faces the prospect of answering some tough questions during her 6-day stay here and in New York.
Her first stop, a meeting with Pres. Bush in the Oval Office. “Foremost, she wants to thank Pres. Bush for all the help he gave to the Philippines during the eight years of his term,” Ambassador Willy Gaa tells ABS-CBN’s Balitang America.
“She will also use the opportunity to discuss how to further strengthen relations between the Philippines and United States,” the country’s chief envoy to Washington added.
Pres. Bush pulled all the stops during her first visit to the White House in May 2003, heaping praises and elevating the Philippines to the status of a “major non-NATO ally”. That opened the gate for more U.S. military aid but those ties took a downturn when Pres. Arroyo ordered Filipino troops in Baghdad to leave a month ahead of schedule, to help secure the release of hostaged Filipino truck driver Angelo dela Cruz in July 2004.
The Bush administration frowned on the move, saying it could only encourage Iraqi militants to intensify kidnap-for-ransom activities. However, elite American Special Forces troops remain in Mindanao to help fight the Abu Sayyaf.

The war on terror, Philippine support for nuclear non-proliferation initiatives and the Philippine Defense Reform program, which is partly funded by the U.S., are high in the two presidents’ agenda this month.
Pres. Arroyo is also scheduled to meet with leaders of the Philippine Friendship Caucus on Capitol Hill. Members of the Philippine Caucus, particularly Senators Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye, and Congressmen Bob Filner and Darrell Issa, have been spearheading efforts to enact the long-delayed Filipino veterans equity bill. The pension provisions are incorporated in Senate 1315, which passed the Senate 96-1 last April.
The President is also scheduled to with officials of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which had recently granted the Philippines “compact-eligible” status after it successfully overcame corruption concerns.
The influential U.S. Chamber of Commerce is jointly hosting a dinner with the ASEAN-U.S. Business Council on June 24. The affair is expected to draw executives of top American firms doing business in the Philippines. A table at the by-invitation-only dinner will cost them $8,000.
Sources say the President may have to mend fences, and address the concerns of foreign investors in the Philippines following the tirade hurled by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile on foreign investors meddling in the legislative process.
She may at least get some help from the large delegation that will be accompanying her from Manila. A highly-placed source told Balitang America that as many as 60 lawmakers are coming with the president, along with a still undisclosed number of Cabinet and executive department officials.

As in all of the President’s foreign sojourns, meeting the Fil-American community at the G.W. Marriott Hotel will be another high-point of her visit to Washington D.C.
“We will accord her the respect befitting the high office she holds,” assured Bing Branigin of the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations (NaFFAA. Militant Fil-Am groups plan to picket some of the President’s public engagements.
Here’s what some leaders who will be attending the meeting with the President will ask her to do. “To get rid of graft and corruption,” declared Celia Donahue, “There’s too much of that you hear. It pains us Fil-Ams here to see and hear what’s going on in the Philippines.”
Fil-Am immigration lawyer and newspaper columnist Wari Azarcon echoed the observation. “The most pressing concern is graft and corruption in the Philippines. Now, whether that’s true or not, perception is very important because it affects the confidence of foreign investors to risk their money in the Philippines.”
Ambassador Gaa admitted the government has an image problem. “The President is very serious about addressing the problem of corruption, and has in fact done a lot. These are just perceptions. In reality, on the ground, it’s not as bad as it’s portrayed,” he stressed.
The President will meet business and investment groups in New York, and will also host a reception to promote the candidacy of Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago to the International Court of Justice.


Posted by News Team | Filed Under Articles/Stories 

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