Weymouth: Was it unpopular to bring U.S. troops back?
Arroyo: It’s very popular. Surveys show a big majority want American troops in the Philippines. I had no problem with the U.S. sending troops last year. But I had to make sure that it could pass the test of the Constitution because some opponent filed a [lawsuit]. But the Supreme Court said that it was constitutional.
Are the U.S. troops going to train your forces to fight terrorism or engage in combat?
U.S. troops cannot fight in the Philippines. That’s against the Constitution. How do we define their role? Is it just training or is there other assistance above training but less than fighting… [For] example: intelligence-sharing and advice.
I know the pain of having to deal with terrorism. And that’s why after 9-11, I was one of the first to join the international coalition to fight terrorism. I felt that the move into Iraq was a logical step to fight this common threat of terrorism.
Your position on Iraq was unpopular in the Philippines.
What was not popular was [agreeing to] send troops to Iraq. Yes. But in my presidency I’ve been guided by what’s right, not what’s popular.
How do you think it turned out? Is the world a safer place now?
Definitely, the world is a safer place. And the bulk of those who disagreed with me now agree that the world has become a safer place. We have specific evidence in the Philippines to support this contention. The Iraqi regime was supporting terrorist cells all over the world. We had to expel three Iraqi diplomats from the Philippines because of evidence that they were either in touch with Abu Sayyaf or doing their own espionage. Osama bin Laden’s brother-in-law was in the Philippines at least up to 1995, funding people who became part of Abu Sayyaf. Plans [were made in the Philippines] to bomb the World Trade Center in 1993 by Ramzi Yousef. Those were terrorist cells with Iraqi connections. So our own experience with the Iraqi regime, our own experience with terrorism… makes us believe it when the United States says that Iraq was a rogue state that supports terrorism all over the world.
Has the U.S. succeeded in helping you fight terrorism?
Certainly. The Abu Sayyaf are really on the run now. Their last hostages have gotten away from them.
Now you have a fight going on between the north and the south in your country. You have been having problems with a terror group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Before I left for the United States, I ordered the military to conduct artillery and aerial attacks on specific embedded terrorist cells. When I go back to the Philippines, I’m going to go straight to Mindanao to discuss the security situation and then to move forward on the longer-term solution. That is to do away with these very poor areas of Mindanao, which have led many of our unemployed and uneducated residents to answer the siren call and recruitment of the terrorist groups.
So to end terrorism, you have to improve the quality of life?
Yes, the battle against poverty and the battle against terrorism are twins. But just because you’re poor, you don’t have to become a terrorist.
I agree, and that’s why I am very careful not to say that poverty is the cause of terrorism. When terrorism is looking for henchmen, they find them much more easily among the poor.
Are you worried about the rise of China?
China’s entry into the world’s economy poses both threats and opportunities. For countries like Singapore, the threat of China is great because Singapore is very export-oriented. China’s entry to the World Trade Organization means… it must play by the rules. Our trade relationship with China went from a deficit to a surplus–our exports grew at 80 percent the first year that China entered the WTO. China is a very big market–that’s the opportunity.
You have said that you will not run for president in 2004. Will you reconsider?
Not being a candidate enables me to make decisions that are unpopular but correct–for instance, supporting the Coalition of the Willing, the fight against corruption, doing structural reforms that may be unpopular in the beginning–fighting drugs.
There is no way you will change your mind?
I have made my declaration, and for the rest of my tenure, I want to improve the economy and heal the deep divisions within society and work to bring about clean elections in 2004.
