8 January 2004 – Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Domingo Albert said that any opinion to the contrary notwithstanding, Filipino soldiers will be the ones who will do the fighting and who will wage the war against terrorists in the Philippines.  The Secretary made this statement when asked to react to an editorial in the Washington Times that said that US soldiers should be engaged not only in training Filipino soldiers but also in actually fighting terrorists in the Philippines.

“To suggest that the US military directly engage terrorists wherever terrorists may be ignores the fact that ultimately, terrorism can only be rooted out through cooperation and if local military and security authorities are properly trained and equipped to fight terrorists in their own country,” Secretary Albert said.

“It is in the common interest of the US, the Philippines and all those who wish to win the war on terror to ensure that those directly affected are to be directly responsible in dealing with terrorists in their own countries.  It is an issue of national capacity building and not of power projection,” she added.

On the comment in the Washington Times editorial that “Institutional corruption is another major weak spot in the U.S.-Philippines alliance,” and that “The Southeast Asian nation is on of the more corrupt in the world,”  Secretary Albert said that the Philippines is aware of the issue of corruption and has been dealing with it not only by going after grafters but also through good governance reforms.

“Major reforms are being instituted not only in the military but in the entire government bureaucracy to prevent corruption.  The President has taken a direct hand in establishing bodies that would look into and propose changes in our defense and military establishments to address the issue of graft.  Grievances that have been raised by military officials are being taken seriously and measures are being adopted to fight graft.  To say that corruption is getting worse is to broad an indictment and is not grounded on fact,” Secretary Albert said. END.