Foreign aid
Denials, recriminations and reassurances have filled the atmosphere since word got out that the US State Department had requested for a smaller allocation for the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and the International Military Exchange Training (IMET) programs to the Philippines. ABS-CBN Interactive had reported that the department had publicized the cuts on its website.The website showed that FMF aid is recommended for reduction to $11.1 million in fiscal year (FY) 2008 from $29.7 million in FY 2006.
The State Department also proposed to slash IMET aid from $2.8 million in FY 2006 to $1.5 in fiscal year 2008.
It also plans to reduce its International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INCLE) program to the Philippine National Police to $1.1 million in FY 2008 from almost $2 million in FY 2006.
The Foreign Military Financing is used to pay for the procurement of military equipment from the US, including surplus from the US military stockpile.
The International Military Exchange Training program pays for the cost of sending and training foreign military officials, including Filipinos, in the United States.
But the cuts are still in the drawing board, according to US Embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop. “We don’t even have the budget for 2008…We are talking about fiscal year 2008, which in the US starts in October,” he explained. He assured us that American aid would continue regardless of numbers.
The fact remains, as the website shows, that Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice wishes to tighten the tap on military and police aid to the Philippines. We don’t need Sen. Rodolfo Biazon to tell us why.
The State Department report on human-rights abuses around the world, released and updated annually, continues to be harsh on the Philippines and other developing countries. In its 2006 report, released on February this year, the department detailed numerous excesses committed on civilians by the Philippine military, police, auxiliary forces, national and local prisons and the courts.
The FMF. IMET and INCLE funds to Manila are a pittance compared to the billions in foreign aid that Washington, D.C. gives a select club of countries each year. Will our military and police really suffer if we lose the dollars altogether? Are we better off without US military aid?
After all, Defense Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor has assured us that “the amount is not as important as the relationship (between the two countries). The relationship is more important.”
He could make the same comment about much of the military hardware that Washington has donated to Manila since the 1950s. The aging ships and aircraft have added to the problems of our military because they were close to obsolescence. They have not strengthened our efforts at achieving self-reliance.
The US government allocates yearly about $23 billion in foreign aid to about 150 countries. The US Congress determines how much goes to the beneficiaries, using recommendations from the State Department which, together with the US Department of Defense, administers military and security-related programs. The bulk of the money goes to a few favored allies, leaving the rest of the world to compete for the scraps.
Foreign aid to Manila will ebb and flow depending on our strategic importance to America. At this moment, we hardly register on its national-security radar even if President Bush considers Mindanao an important outpost in the war on terrorism.
