From the
Philippine Daily Inquirer.
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MANILA, Philippines—Angered by a bill in the United States Congress seeking to strip the Philippines of $2 million in US military assistance due purportedly to the country’s dismal human rights record, Sen. Joker Arroyo wants the issue taken up by Filipino officials during the two-day visit to Manila this week of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.“We should ask her (Clinton) directly, why is it that you’re removing the military assistance that is not even a big amount—because you say that the Philippines is a human rights violator,” Arroyo said in an interview over dzBB radio.Arroyo said America had a worse human rights record than the Philippines.“If you look at yourselves in the mirror, you will see that you are even a worse violator, because it’s a state policy sanctioned by the (US) government,” he said.Arroyo said that in the case of the Philippines, it was possible that human rights violations were being committed by members of the military and the police but this was not a state policy.Clinton is due in the country on Friday. She has said that her visit had to do with America showing its solidarity with Filipinos who were badly battered by recent calamities.He's one to talk. Why should he criticize the US government for their human rights violation? The $2 million is for "military assistance". It's called assistance because it's voluntarily given and it is the right of the country doing the giving to decide what to do with the money. Beggars can't complain if people don't give them money. That's just a pathetic retort by Sen. Joker Arroyo.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño said in Baguio City on Saturday that aside from military aid, rights groups also called on the US government to stop releasing official development assistance.Casiño said they hoped Raymond Richhart, deputy director of the US state department’s Office of Maritime Southeast Asian Affairs, would honor his word that US military aid would not be released until the issue on human rights abuses in the country was resolved.Casiño said they had yet to receive an official statement from the state department stipulating the non-release of the aid.“But there is no need for a black and white; we take the information at face value. The information was from an official who was knowledgeable of the US Congress. The fact that the aid was withheld, it should send a message to the government that it should address the rights abuses in the country,” he said.American legislators have expressed concern about persistent reports of human rights violations by the Philippine military and police.At Fort Del Pilar, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said there was no need for the government to lobby to get the aid.Rep. Teodoro Casiño is correct that the US should stop giving aid to the Philippines. These aids just ends up in the wrong hands and teaches the Filipinos nothing in terms of being self sufficient.
As the Bible says, give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for life.
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