Militants downplay President Aquino's US trip

Other than going on a relatively low budget, there is not much difference between the upcoming United States trip of President Benigno Aquino III and those of his predecessors, militants said Saturday. Militant umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said Aquino’s agenda appears to follow the same outline past Philippine presidents went by in their respective visits. “While its fine that Malacañang plans to spend a relatively smaller amount for this trip, and that there won’t be a repeat of Arroyo’s Le Cirque scandal, the agenda of the trip apparently remains similar to past presidential visits. Only the entourage and the cost have changed," Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said on the Bayan website. The Palace earlier said Aquino will spend only P25 million for his trip, and there will be no repeat of the lavish dinners of his predecessor and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. But Reyes said that aside from attending a United Nations function, Aquino’s trip will be about getting foreign grants, aid and investments, “while trying to avoid controversial issues like the Visiting Forces Agreement." The militant group also expressed reservation over the signing of the $434-million Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) Compact Agreement, one of the highlights of Aquino’s trip. Bayan warned of the MCC’s agenda for giving out aid. “The MCC was created and funded by the US government under George W. Bush. It is a foreign policy instrument that promotes discredited neo-liberal economic policies for third world countries in exchange for so-called aid. It’s current board chair is the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton," Reyes said. It said the MCC “partners only with countries that can show measurable support for a free and open political system with access to open markets." Only countries with proven track records in anti-corruption, civil liberties and the rule of law may partner with the MCC in crafting a development program unique to their local conditions, Bayan noted. “These grants and so-called aid are used to advance US economic and political interests in the guise of promoting democracy and good governance. This is true now especially because the US economy is in crisis. The US will likely intensify its extraction of profits from countries like the Philippines," Reyes added. “For example, we are receiving a huge grant despite the current government’s continuing inability to hold [former president] Arroyo and her cohorts accountable for large-scale corruption. In exchange for the grant, the US government expects the Aquino admin to promote more trade and investment liberalization, privatization and deregulation," he said. Bayan said the Philippine government should take a more critical look at foreign aid, although Aquino already wrote the US government seeking the approval of the MCC Compact Agreement. “The Philippine government must realize that real development comes from developing the domestic economy and the local forces of production and not from an over-reliance on foreign investments and loans. Years of addiction to foreign aid, grants and loans have not truly gotten us out of our Third World status," Reyes said. — LBG, GMANews.TV