Two US senators won’t go to Basilan

Two American senators who will visit Manila next week will not go to Basilan and will merely be briefed on the conduct of the ongoing war games between Philippine and US troops, President Arroyo said yesterday.

The President said the senators’ observations on the war games are meant to strengthen their position in pushing legislation for additional US military assistance to the Philippines.

US Senators Daniel Inouye (Democrat, Hawaii) American legislators, Philippine officials gave a cold-shoulder treatment to a fact-finding multinational mission composed of private individuals who visited Basilan early this week.

The delegation flew back to Manila yesterday and held a press conference to reveal their findings of alleged human rights violations committed by the Philippine military against arrested Abu Sayyaf suspects.

Mrs. Arroyo said she will host a dinner at the Palace for the two US senators on April 2.

Inouye, the fourth most senior member of the US Senate, is chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, while Stevens is a ranking member of the same subcommittee. Both are active in legislation designed to enhance the quality of US military forces.

"(They) will be here to study and evaluate the conduct of Balikatan 02-1, the American involvement here. And they are expected to report back to the US Congress exactly the features of this Balikatan," Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao told Palace reporters.

The two senators are also expected to report "whether it has been successful or not and whether to recommend an enhancement of the Balikatan 02-1," Tiglao added.

He said the two US senators will be meeting with officials of the Department of National Defense, Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Inouye and Stevens are also scheduled to make a trip to historic Corregidor island where American soldiers fought alongside Filipino troops against the Japanese Imperial Army during the World War II.

Mrs. Arroyo said the government could not extend the same hospitality to the international peace mission arranged by University of the Philippines Prof. Walden Bello.

The President hit back at Bello’s group saying no international forum would believe their report on alleged human rights abuses committed against the Abu Sayyaf.

"They would have been more credible if Walden Bello wasn’t there," Tiglao said.

Mrs. Arroyo shrugged off the mission’s threat to submit its report to the international community. "So let them do it. For sure the people who will receive it know who they are," she said. — Marichu Villanueva