US AMBASSADOR TO GMA: STRENGTHEN RULE OF LAW
MANILA, July 7, 2004 (STAR) President Arroyo needs to strengthen the rule of law in the Philippines to improve the chances of solving the decades-old problems of poverty and insurgency, US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone said yesterday.
"You know things can be better in this country — as well as worse," Ricciardone told a news conference.
The outspoken envoy, who had earlier angered Filipino politicians for blaming many of the country’s ills on corruption, praised the action plan Mrs. Arroyo laid out last week after winning the May 10 presidential election.
Her plan includes a crackdown on corruption, tackling the country’s huge debt burden and bringing peace to rebellion-torn Mindanao.
"We want to see the rule of law of this country strengthened. We want to see her succeed in making life tougher for those who have had it easy," said Ricciardone, the top representative here of Manila’s former colonial power, main trading partner and security ally.
"Strengthening the rule of law in this country is critical to releasing the Philippines to seize its destiny, to make this country as great as it can be," he told a forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.
Ricciardone said the government’s ability to protect citizens from terrorism and violence associated with insurgencies and crime, and the key to fixing its finances, "all comes down to strengthening the rule of law."
He noted Mrs. Arroyo’s desire to amend the Constitution to adopt a parliamentary style of government as well as to implement fiscal reform.
"You all have to decide that through your democratic process and you can count on us to back you up. But these are serious decisions. Fiscal crisis has to be averted. You do it by dealing with it frontally, it seems to me."
In a courtesy call to Senate President Franklin Drilon also yesterday, Ricciardone advised the Philippine Congress to determine which between Charter change and the financial crisis should be given priority for the country to move forward.
"It is up to the leaders, like the Senate president, President Arroyo and the Speaker of the House to decide what are the vital issues. What needs to be done first, where do we have to concentrate our energies?" Ricciardone said.
"We can not make the decision for you. But as your friend, we are watching anxiously," he added, stressing the strength and prosperity of the Philippines "is important to all of us."
He said Washington, like Manila, hoped for a "more permanent end to the violence" engendered by decades of Muslim separatist and communist insurgencies.
He described the rebellions as "the slow diseases of the Philippines, things that bled and kept it weak for decades" by stunting the growth of foreign and domestic investments.
"I’m convinced and confident that this country will demonstrate the courage needed to make those tough and vital choices," Ricciardone said.
"Change is inevitable, someone said, but progress is not. This moment of national democratic revival offers a fresh but fleeting opportunity to reshape the Philippines’ national destiny."
Ricciardone said that the US government will do everything to see the legislative and executive departments of the Philippines succeed in their programs.
"In a certain way, we can offer expertise. But all the experts can do is lay out case studies. Examples of what has worked in other countries, what might work here, we can help analyze your problem," he said.
Drilon for his part welcomed back Ricciardone to the country after his tour of duty in war-torn Iraq. He described the ambassador as "an old friend." — AFP, Jose Rodel Clapano
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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