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Viewing cable 07MANILA2931, STAFFDEL LUSE VISIT TO THE PHILIPPINES

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07MANILA2931 2007-08-29 23:12 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Manila
VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHML #2931/01 2412312
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 292312Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY MANILA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8053
INFO RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 6678
RUEHUM/AMEMBASSY ULAANBAATAR 0728
UNCLAS MANILA 002931 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR STATE/EAP PINGENERI, SMARCIEL 
FOR STATE/H PDIGGS 
FOR ANE/EAA CDOWNEY, FDONOVAN 
STATE PAS TO CEQ/LUGAR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OREP AMGT ASEC AFIN ID RP CH MD
SUBJECT: STAFFDEL LUSE VISIT TO THE PHILIPPINES 
 
REF: STATE 104535 
 
1. (U) Summary:  Mr. Keith Luse, Senior Professional Staff, visited 
the Philippines from August 14-18 as part of a three-nation Asian 
visit that also included Indonesia and Mongolia.  The purpose of Mr. 
Luse's visit was to conduct a field-based study on bilateral U.S. 
foreign assistance, and also gather information about the human 
rights situation in the Philippines, particularly the issue of 
extra-judicial killings.  On foreign assistance, Mr. Luse met with 
the full range of Embassy sections and staff involved with foreign 
assistance, government counterparts, NGOs, private sector, and other 
donors.  On the issue of unlawful killings, Mr. Luse had a wide 
range of meetings including with the Embassy, Philippine government, 
police, military, and NGOs.  Embassy Manila believes the visit was 
very productive, with excellent opportunities for substantive 
discussion on human rights issues and exposure to the strong 
inter-agency approach to U.S. foreign assistance at Post.  End 
Summary. 
 
2.  (U) Regarding U.S. bilateral assistance, Mr. Luse met on the USG 
side with the Charge, the Acting DCM, and Country Team members.  He 
had in-depth discussions with USAID; the U.S. military (both the 
Joint U.S. Military Assistance Group, which manages U.S. support to 
Philippine Defense Reform, and the Joint Special Operations Task 
Force-Philippines, the political section and regional security 
office (which manage U.S. law enforcement and counterterrorism 
assistance), Foreign Agricultural Service, and the USAID team 
managing the Millennium Challenge Corporation's (MCC) Philippines 
Threshold Program.  On the Philippine government side, Mr. Luse met 
with Senator Gordon (also Chairman of the Philippine National Red 
Cross, a long-time U.S. partner in disaster assistance) and select 
MCC counterparts, the Assistant Ombudsman, Department of Finance 
Undersecretary, and the Finance Secretary.  Among donors, Mr. Luse 
had discussions with The World Bank Acting Country Director, the 
Asian Development Bank Philippines Country Director and the 
Alternate U.S. Executive Director.  Among NGOs, Mr. Luse met with 
The Asia Foundation and the International Foundation for Electoral 
Systems, both USAID implementing partners.  A roundtable dinner 
hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce gave Mr. Luse the 
opportunity to hear from the private sector, with the companies such 
as Ford, Chevron, and Bristol Myers represented. 
 
3.  (U) Highlights of the discussions included Embassy Manila's 
communication of the strong inter-agency approach to U.S. assistance 
in the Philippines (especially in Mindanao and on rule of law 
issues) and program coherence with the foreign assistance strategic 
framework and the transformation diplomacy goal.  Embassy Manila's 
integrated and transformational approach pre-dated  -- but was 
deepened by -- foreign assistance reform (the "F process").  The 
private sector voiced concerns about corruption, smuggling, and 
other challenges of doing business, but nonetheless said that 
foreign investors could see good returns in the Philippines.  Other 
donors cited examples of productive coordination with the U.S., such 
as on procurement reform and tax administration, and praised the 
Philippine Development Forum (in which the U.S. is an active 
participant) as a productive vehicle for more substantive 
Philippines government-donor coordination and a "genuine agent for 
change."  A repeatedly expressed view by many with whom Mr. Luse 
spoke was that, despite the Philippines' significant challenges, 
especially in the areas of corruption and rule of law, the U.S. and 
other donors are able to effectively support "islands of good 
governance" (as characterized by the World Bank) and reform 
champions in both government and civil society.  Many, therefore, 
expressed cautious optimism about prospects for progress in the 
Philippines. 
 
4. (U)  On the issue of extra judicial killings, Mr. Luse had a wide 
range of meetings with a diverse group including the Embassy, 
Philippines government, police, Philippines military, and NGOs.  His 
discussions with Embassy staff (political section, regional security 
office and others) and with The Asia Foundation and the 
International Foundation for Electoral Systems addressed human 
rights as well as foreign assistance issues.  These NGOs said human 
rights abuses were a serious concern and cited a weak judicial 
system as a root cause.  In the Philippines government, Mr. Luse met 
with Senior State Prosecutor and Head of the Presidential Task Force 
Against Media Harassment of the Philippine Department of Justice, 
Undersecretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy National 
Security Adviser, and Vice Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the 
Philippines.  Mr. Luse also attended a briefing by the Philippine 
National Police's "Task Force Usig," which is charged with 
investigating human rights abuses.   Mr. Luse clearly conveyed 
rising U.S. Congressional concerns, along with those of NGOs and 
church groups in the United States, and the increasing "perception," 
whether correct or not, that the Philippines was on a "downward" 
trend in terms of the rule of law and human rights. 
5. (SBU)  In several meetings with senior Philippine officials, Luse 
conveyed serious Congressional concern about extrajudicial killings 
and explained that his trip was essentially a fact-finding visit to 
learn first-hand about the issue.  He added that he hoped to obtain 
the Philippine government's perspective on the nature of the problem 
and possible solutions.  The Department of Foreign Affairs 
Undersecretary asserted that the Philippine  government took 
extrajudicial killings seriously and had recently taken a number of 
steps to address the issue, such as designating 99 special courts to 
hear such cases and providing additional funding to the Commission 
on Human Rights.  However, the Undersecretary explained that the 
killings did not occur in a vacuum, but resulted partly from the 
Philippine government's concurrent fight against three insurgencies 
(communist, Muslim, and terrorist).  In addition, he claimed that 
many of the killings were actually perpetrated by the Communist 
National People's Army, which was currently purging its ranks of 
disloyal members as it had done in previous years. 
 
6. (SBU)  The Philippine National Deputy Security Adviser's comments 
closely followed Department of Foreign Affairs comments, heavily 
emphasizing the role of the National People's Army in the killings. 
However, he noted that to the extent the Philippine military was 
involved, it was "rogue elements" within it, as the Melo Commission 
had concluded.  The Task Force Using Deputy Director provided Luse a 
detailed briefing of its ongoing investigations into extrajudicial 
killings.  The Deputy Director underscored that Task Force Usig's 
systematic evaluation of all the cases conveyed that many of the 
killings claimed by human rights organizations were not politically 
motivated, but the result of personal squabbles, armed conflict, 
escape attempts, and many other non-political reasons.  Luse was 
grateful for the perspective he gained from the briefing and 
requested that the Task Force continue regularly to brief Embassy 
officials.  The Philippine Department of Justice Prosecutor, who was 
recently appointed to head the Presidential Task Force Against Media 
Harassment, did not address extrajudicial killings in general but 
instead focused on the case of a journalist who has been missing 
since April.  He alleged that members of the military could be 
involved, but the investigation was as yet inconclusive. 
 
7. (U) Mr. Luse was briefed about what the U.S. and other donors' 
programs in the area of rule of law to address extrajudicial 
killings, as well as corruption, narcotics, trafficking in persons, 
terrorism, and other crimes.  The State Department is working to 
strengthen law enforcement capacity by assisting and training police 
and prosecutors.  USAID is supporting programs to improve the 
efficiency of the Philippines' backlogged courts and increase access 
to justice.  The MCC Threshold Program focuses on supporting 
government agencies (the Office of the Ombudsman and Bureau of 
Internal Revenue) that investigate and prosecute corrupt officials, 
tax evaders, and smugglers.  The Joint U.S. Military Assistance 
Group's support to Philippine Defense Reform is helping build a more 
professional and accountable Philippine military.  All are critical 
and integrated components of a broader U.S. foreign assistance 
effort that is seeking to transform the Philippines into a more 
democratic, prosperous and stronger sustaining partner of the United 
States.  Mr. Luse's visit afforded excellent opportunities for 
substantive discussions of these challenges and opportunities in the 
Philippines and for U.S. bilateral assistance. 
 
8. (U)  Keith Luse cleared this cable.  Kenney