Filipinos grow divided over return of US military

Biazon and his allies say a US combat role may violate the Philippines Constitution. But he also worries that the US presence could complicate peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a separatist group on the island of Mindanao, near Basilan, which has about 10,000 men under arms.

"We have to be careful about the possibility of escalation with the other armed groups, particularly the MILF,'' says Biazon, a former chief of staff of the Philippines Armed Forces. The MILF has warned that it will kill US soldiers if provoked, as has the communist New People's Army, which is centered on the main island of Luzon.

Senate President Franklin Drillon, an Arroyo ally, dismisses Biazon's position: "Public opinion is overwhelmingly in support of the US presence in the southern Philippines. In this day and age national territories get blurred, and the reality of the thing is that terrorism and the problems of Mindanao must be resolved - and it's clear that our military needs help."

Senator Drillon says having US troops in combat here is a small price to pay for the training and goods that are being transferred to the military. "It is an emotional issue when it comes to US troops, but it's never an emotional issue when it comes to US helicopters and equipment,'' says Drillon.

NEVERTHELESS, he says the US troops should probably leave as soon as possible. "They should probably get out by six months. You never know how the reaction of the public will go."

The protests against the US presence have remained small.

Eighty-four percent of Filipinos are supportive of the US assistance, according to local pollsters. But the exercise continues to stir passions. Some 2,000 students at the University of the Philippines burned an American flag during a protest yesterday.

Nowhere are there as many mixed emotions as in the Philippines, which has closer cultural ties to the US than any other Asian nation.

English is the language of commerce, the favorite sport is basketball, and many senior military officers graduated from US service academies such as West Point. Yet the two US bases here were closed in 1992 because of nationalist opposition in the Senate and complaints from citizens' groups about the raunchy neighborhoods that sprang up around them. "Sometimes we dislike ourselves for how much we like the US,'' says Jose Almonte, a former national security adviser.

That forces the US to tread carefully in the Philippines, balancing the desire to act toward perceived terrorist threats against the political damage that could be done to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.Ms. Arroyo's Senate opponents are already lining up to use her cooperation with the US against her.

"The president was the most supportive Asian leader of Bush. She opened our skies and our bases as staging grounds, and is taking a huge political risk to do it,'' says Mr. Almonte. "It's her calculation that the people will support her, and she has been right so far. But if this drags on, or something goes wrong, that can change."

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