AFP optimistic to get additional $2 million US aid

By Ronron
November 6, 2007

The Philippine military is optimistic it will get the additional $2 million aid of the United States government on top of the $30 million Foreign Military Funding (FMF) of the US for the Philippines for 2008.

Armed Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said Tuesday that the military is confident it will meet the requirements set by the US government before it can release the additional funding.

In a statement from New York, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said Monday that the US wanted to be assured that the Philippine government is addressing the extrajudicial killing cases in the country.

“We are very optimistic that with the efforts of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, with what we are doing right now – I’m referring to the part of the Armed Forces of the Philippines which is in compliance, we are confident that it will be given to us,” Bacarro said of the $2 million.

Bacarro reiterated that the AFP has been complying with the recommendations of the Melo Commission and UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston as regards the extrajudicial killings issue, and taking measures on its own to observe human rights protection.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr., in a separate statement yesterday, said: “We enjoin respect for human rights. It is an ongoing endeavor of the defense and military establishment to uphold human rights without any preconditions whatsoever.”

Bacarro said they expect to utilize the US aid in capability-upgrade programs and projects, particularly to thwart terrorism./DMS