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Counterterrorism Aid Brings US, Philippines Closer after Years of Doubt

by Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI, TAIWAN --

   Talks on expanding U.S. aid for the Philippine fight against terrorism
   in its restive southland would help bring the two countries closer
   after a fractious period marked by Manila's new friendship with
   Beijing, analysts said.

   The U.S. Department of State sent a representative to Manila this week
   to discuss a three-year program that would help local officials pick
   out and solve problems that might spark extremist reactions among
   Muslims around the southern island of Mindanao.

   U.S. officials held "productive meetings with our Philippines partners
   on countering violent extremism and supporting our enduring alliance,"
   tweeted Denise Natali, assistant secretary of state for conflict and
   stabilization.

   Additional aid for countering extremists, including Islamic State
   backers, will bring the Philippines and the United States closer after
   three years of questions raised by Philippine President Rodrigo
   Duterte's friendship with China and public condemnations of U.S.
   assistance.

   "The military and security relations with the U.S. continue despite the
   so-called turn of the administration to China, so our military and
   intelligence officials are still working closely with the U.S. military
   and security experts," said Maria Ela Atienza, a University of the
   Philippines political science professor.

   'Testy US ties

   The Philippines and former colonizer United States have lived by a
   mutual defense treaty since the 1950s. Duterte, upset over U.S.
   challenges of his deadly anti-drug campaign, threatened in late 2016 to
   cancel a visiting-forces pact with the United States and the following
   year scaled back annual joint U.S.-Philippine military exercises.

   Also in 2016, the year Duterte took office, China, the chief U.S. rival
   in Asia, pledged $24 billion in aid and investment in the relatively
   impoverished Philippines. Manila in turn muted criticism of Beijing
   over a maritime sovereignty dispute that had the two nations at odds
   before 2016.

   'Joint anti-terrorism work

   Despite his furor, Duterte did not challenge U.S. advisers stationed in
   Mindanao since 2002 to detect terrorist threats.

   Violence involving Muslim rebels has killed about 120,000 in the south
   since the 1960s. Muslims who reached the Philippines some 500 years ago
   believe the government and Christian majority control an outsized share
   of resources.

   U.S. technical aid particularly helped Philippine troops beat an
   IS-supported Muslim rebel group in a five-month civil war in 2017.

   President Duterte, a native of Mindanao, vowed after his inauguration
   to seek peace in the south. He spearheaded a law last year giving
   limited autonomy to about 4.3 million people in part of Mindanao. But
   the law faces dissent in outlying islands controlled by the Abu Sayyaf
   rebel group, known for kidnapping and beheading tourists.

   And in Marawi, a city partly destroyed in the civil war, displaced
   people are growing restless about reconstruction work, Atienza said.
   Too much discontent could give new rise to antigovernment extremists,
   said Enrico Cau, Southeast Asia-specialized associate researcher at the
   Taiwan Strategy Research Association.

   The three-year program discussed this week in Manila follows an
   increase in U.S. funding and troops for the Philippines, Cau said. It
   also shows a new U.S. focus on socio-economic issues, such as lack of
   employment, that may drive people to extremism, he said.

   "There is change of strategy," Cau said. "From an entirely military
   effort, they are shifting towards a more civilian oriented effort. They
   are getting closer to the population."

   'Duterte-Trump ties

   Duterte's friendly November 2017 meeting in Manila with U.S. President
   Donald Trump eased his earlier bristliness toward Washington, said
   Ramon Casiple, executive director with the Philippine advocacy
   organization Institute for Political and Electoral Reform in Metro
   Manila.

   The Philippine leader also wants to craft a multicountry foreign policy
   rather than rely on a single power, he added. Around Southeast Asia,
   countries normally look to China for trade and investment aid and to
   the United States for military support.

   "The key element of that policy is to be friends to all," Casiple said.
   "I think President Duterte and President Trump have very good
   relations."