AFP welcomes long-term US aid

Armed Forces chief Gen. Benjamin Defensor hailed yesterday a US pledge of long-term aid in the fight against terrorism, saying it would boost the Philippine military’s battle plans, particularly an offensive against communist insurgents.

"A better, stronger, long-term US aid for the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) will hasten the alignment of our efforts toward peace and security. In particular, I see a faster, stronger and deadlier AFP in the long run," Defensor said in a statement.

US President George W. Bush told US congressional leaders in a letter that American forces would provide long-term assistance to the AFP to defeat local terrorists.

US forces withdrew from Mindanao, specifically Basilan province and Zamboanga City, on July 31 after winding up a six-month joint military exercise with their Filipino counterparts.

Details of the US military pledge have not been firmed up, but Defensor said the AFP mostly needs logistics, including a wide variety of still reliable equipment.

"We need more sophistication in the way we fight our battle," Defensor said, adding that the immediate beneficiary could be a just-starting offensive set off by a spate of high-profile communist guerrilla attacks nationwide.

After helping Philippine troops whittle down the Abu Sayyaf, a violent al Qaeda-linked Muslim extremist group in the South, US officials included the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA) in its list of foreign terrorist groups and urged nations to identify and cut off support to the communist rebels.

The AFP later pulled out some US-trained troops from Mindanao and redeployed them in areas where the NPA operates.

The 113,000-strong AFP is chronically ill-equipped, considering that it is confronting Muslim separatist and communist insurgents and the Abu Sayyaf in Mindanao.

The Philippine government launched an ambitious AFP modernization program, but it largely fell through due to lack of funds.

Defensor said both countries stand to mutually gain from the maneuvers dubbed Balikatan exercises. "Even without financial aid to Basilan, the sharing and passing of US soldier’s knowledge, expertise and state-of-the-art weaponry to local soldiers is enough to intensify the AFP’s fight against extremist groups.

"In Basilan, there is no aid, but the shared experience which produced tactical dividends for our soldiers will carry a lot of weight," Defensor said.