Local News 4

Mango's Local News and Info

Archive 4

November 2001 - January 2002

Note: These articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the Management, Staff and Employees of Mango's.

Next Stop Mindanao
In the second phase of the war on terrorism, U.S. soldiers join the hunt for Muslim rebels in the Philippines. But is this the most pressing threat?
BY JOHANNA MCGEARY
Monday, Jan. 28, 2002

Hunting terrorists on Basilan Island is a punishing game of hide-and-seek, as any Philippine soldier can tell you. The 5,000 Philippine troops on Basilan are looking for the last 80 or so heavily armed members of the Muslim rebel gang known as Abu Sayyaf (meaning "Bearer of the Sword"), who are on the run with three hostages in tow somewhere inside a 30-sq.-mi. patch. Stalking the rebels in jungle so dense that no light shines through the canopy of foliage, along jagged ridges often shrouded in fog, is like fighting in a dark closet with sunglasses on. The enemy are masters of the hit-and-run ambush, and might be lurking behind every curtain of vines, every thicket or frond.

Welcome to the next front in the global war against terror. Starting last week U.S. soldiers began arriving in the troubled southern province of Mindanao to hunt shoulder to shoulder with the frustrated Philippine soldiers who have been scouring the area for the past eight months. In theory, the 650 U.S. G.I.s, including 160 special forces, are being sent to teach the local troops better ways to search out and destroy Abu Sayyaf, a group that officials say has had ties to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. In practice, armed with sophisticated munitions and authorized to fire only in self-defense, the Americans seem likely to do everything short of direct combat attacks to help rid the Philippines of this scourge.

With al-Qaeda cells lurking in at least 50 countries around the world, why bring the battle to the Philippines? Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters last week that Abu Sayyaf is linked to al-Qaeda, "no question," but most officials in Manila consider it more a band of local thugs than a worldwide terrorism threat. Still, the group's brutal record of kidnapping--and beheading--foreigners as well as Filipinos (close to 100 murdered since 1991) makes it a legitimate target. The fact that Abu Sayyaf still holds hostage U.S. missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham, said Rumsfeld, only "adds a dimension to our interest."

Yet the underlying purposes of this operation may go beyond the fate of Abu Sayyaf. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has shrewdly used the terrorism threat to dip into Washington's honey jar, coming away with $100 million in military aid and substantial additions to her depleted arsenal. Her country has largely been cut off from military assistance since Manila kicked the U.S. out of its two major South Asian bases in 1991. The Bush Administration was eager to regain a military foothold there. Last November, when Arroyo visited Washington, the President offered to send U.S. combat troops to join the Abu Sayyaf chase--despite a clause in the Philippine constitution prohibiting foreigners from fighting on the nation's soil. But a visiting-forces agreement signed in 1999 allows U.S. troops to join in military exercises.

The gravest terrorism threat may come less from Mindanao than from Manila, thought to be a prime hideaway for undetected al-Qaeda cells scattered throughout Southeast Asia. For several months Manila provided houseroom for Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993. Only last week Philippine police arrested three men suspected of plotting with an al-Qaeda ring recently broken up in Singapore. Sleepers like these, with a taste for anti-American action, trained and financed by al-Qaeda, could be part of a regional terrorism fraternity operating under the banner of Jemaah Islamia, which seeks to knit renegade segments of the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia into a radical Islamic state in the South China Sea.

Sending in G.I.s to help disband Abu Sayyaf would deprive these cells of a useful bit of real estate. But it wouldn't eradicate the international danger they pose. Rooting them out is a job for the undercover boys. The FBI has beefed up its Manila office because, says an official, "the threat level is going up." It is worried that Asians might step in as suicide bombers now that airport security is targeting Arabs. And the 650 incoming G.I.s could provide nice cover for other covert operatives, such as CIA paramilitaries. "As we've said all along, what you don't see us doing in the war on terrorism," says a Pentagon official, "is as important as what you will see."

For now, the visible action will concentrate on Abu Sayyaf as American soldiers join the patrols on Basilan Island. They are on a slippery slope between training and fighting. Their very presence makes them a target for terrorists and for the local Muslim populace, which has been bitterly anti-American since colonial times. Though they are called advisers, the Americans will be going on risky missions deep into the jungle. "You're coming as close as you can to direct combat when you go out on patrol," says Michael Vickers, a former Green Beret who is an analyst at Washington's Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. "Sometimes even if you're trying to stay out of combat, the fighting is brought to you." That is exactly how the U.S. found itself mired in Vietnam.

Under the top-gun command of Air Force Brigadier General Donald Wurster, head of all special operations in the Pacific, Army special forces, backed by commandos from other services, were setting up quarters last week for a 6- to 12-month stay at a camp on Mindanao, just a boat ride across the narrow strait from Basilan. Philippine counterparts are already taking delivery of U.S. equipment, including a C-130 cargo plane and eight Huey helicopters.

The formal job of the G.I.s is to teach 1,200 Philippine soldiers the latest in antiterrorist tactics and intelligence-gathering techniques. (The irony of the mission, coming after the U.S. failed to nab top terrorists in Afghanistan, goes unmentioned by the Pentagon.) Manila's brass complain that Abu Sayyaf has eluded capture because government forces get lousy information about the enemy's whereabouts. U.S. trainers will bring along sophisticated sensors and tracking devices to help pinpoint Abu Sayyaf's locations. In particular, they intend to improve the Philippine army's ability to hunt at night. The Pentagon refuses to explain what other actions the Americans might undertake, but Vickers and sources in Manila suspect that the special forces will attempt to rescue the American hostages. "If we could find them, I think we'd do it," says Vickers.

All this firepower seems a bit heavy just to take out the fading Abu Sayyaf. Some Bush officials last week puffed them as one of the world's most vile and violent Islamist terrorism clans. In reality, says a Pentagon aide, "they're more like the Bloods and the Crips than al-Qaeda and the Taliban." Arroyo has said Abu Sayyaf appears to have only a few old "traces of a relationship" with al-Qaeda.

The group first picked up steam in 1991 as an offshoot of a larger Muslim liberation organization that has been fighting for a separate Islamic state since the U.S. ended its occupation of the Philippines in 1946. Abu Sayyaf founder Abdurajak Janjalani heard the call of Muslim nationalism and joined the jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan, where he met Osama bin Laden. At war's end Janjalani brought his new skills home with a message of violent Islamic rebellion that resonated among the Muslim minority, 5% of a largely Roman Catholic country.

From there, though, the ties to al-Qaeda grow tenuous. Abu Sayyaf is said to have bankrolled its initial gun purchases through the dubious charities of Philippine-based Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden's brother-in-law. Khalifa had links to another Philippine bin Laden agent, Abdul Hakim Murad, who was arrested in 1995 for plotting to kill Pope John Paul II and for planning, with roommate Ramzi Yousef, to blow up 12 U.S. airliners simultaneously. Yousef used to pay the occasional call on his old mujahedin pal Janjalani.

But Abu Sayyaf never graduated to al-Qaeda-style international schemes. The organization's primary tactic was bombing local Christians, raiding military posts and pulling off for-profit kidnappings. Extortion and ransom have been paying its way for years. After Janjalani was killed in a firefight in 1998, the group fragmented into two factions, one headed by his brother Khaddafy Janjalani and based in Basilan, the other under the nominal leadership of one "Commander Robot," headquartered on Jolo Island. In April 2000 the Robot gang stormed a Malaysian dive resort and made off with 21 hostages, including 19 foreigners. The group eventually bartered them for $25 million, paid by Libya in a bid for Western goodwill. The ransom was spent on fresh recruits and high-tech weapons. A year later, members of the Basilan faction snatched 20 captives from a Philippine beach hotel. That batch included the U.S. missionaries and a third American, Guillermo Sobero, who was beheaded in June, said Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya, as a "gift" for President Arroyo.

Since becoming President in 2001, Arroyo has waged an aggressive but often inept campaign against Abu Sayyaf. Some also charge that pervasive corruption makes the army soft on the rebels. Even so, army firefights have pruned the group--which once held the allegiance of perhaps 2,000 Muslims, including 200 hard-core fighters--to about 80 devotees, who have had to split into two constantly traveling units.

Plenty of opposition politicians and ordinary Filipinos think Arroyo is being too welcoming to U.S. troops. Senior Filipino lawmakers question the legality of an "exercise" that brushes close to the constitutional ban on foreign combat and are worried that it is the first step toward re-establishing U.S. bases. Some analysts charge Arroyo with exaggerating Abu Sayyaf's strength in order to grab more American aid. And Muslim leaders in the southern zone fear the U.S. presence will reactivate mainstream separatist outfits.

But the Bush Administration betrays no doubt. "If we have to go into 15 more countries," said Rumsfeld, "we ought to do it to deal with terrorism." Abu Sayyaf may be a mere sideshow, but if the U.S. isn't yet ready to take on state sponsors of terrorism, then operations like this one may be the next best way to show the war isn't over.

Reported by Nelly Sindayen/Basilan, Mark Thompson/Washington and Phil Zabriskie/Manila

Good, clean fun for GIs - bad news for bar girls
January 24, 2002
By Carlito Pablo
Inquirer News Service

US TROOPS planning on rocking better think of other ways of spending their R&R. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered the military to come up with strict guidelines concerning the rest and recreation of American military forces taking part in the RP-US war games.

She wants group dates and guided tours, not solo sojourns, her spokesperson Rigoberto Tiglao said Wednesday. She wants the spotlight on tourist destinations, not on honky-tonks. The President has emphasized again and again that the presence of US troops will not start prostitution activities," Tiglao told reporters.

He said the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines had been directed to make clear to their American counterparts that the government did not want the incidence of prostitution to rise on account of the US presence. "One proposal is for US troops to go out of their barracks in groups and as part of guided tours," Tiglao said. "Going out alone will not be allowed."

He said the tour guides could either be AFP personnel themselves or people from the Department of Tourism, "so the Americans may be encouraged to see tourist spots and not go to bars." Asked whether the Americans would be explicitly barred from the bars, Tiglao said: "The guidelines are still being finalized. We'll know exact details soon." "This is a concern of the AFP and their US counterparts," he added.

According to an earlier report in the Inquirer, bar girls in Zamboanga City are looking forward to the arrival of the Americans. Their anticipation is in terms of not only the dollars to be earned but also the wish to bag an American lover or husband, or to have an Amerasian child.

Tiglao said the composition of the expected 660 US troops "could make it easier to control them." He described them as "not ordinary soldiers," but mostly members of the elite US Special Forces. Of the 660 Americans, 44 are already in Zamboanga City. That number is due to rise to 100 Thursday.

Tiglao said some 160 Americans would be deployed in Basilan, where eight Filipino military battalions are going after the Abu Sayyaf. As many as 140 will be assigned in the Malagutay area in Zamboanga to train two Light Reaction Companies. Some 160 will stay at the AFP Southern Command headquarters in Zamboanga to oversee logistics and communication and related missions. The biggest group, comprising 250, will be assigned at the Air Force base in Mactan, Cebu, where air strikes will be mapped out.

Intel invests up to $100M on Philippines plant
January 23, 2002 Posted: 2:34 PM HKT (0634 GMT)

MANILA, Philippines -- Intel Corp. plans to invest up to $100 million in the Philippines this year, to improve its chip-assembly plants. Under the plan, Intel will upgrade its plant in the province of Cavite, largely to support assembly of its new Pentium 4 line, the company said. Intel will also consolidate its assembly plants, shifting its manufacturing operations from Makati to Cavite.

The upgrade will cost $80 million to $100 million, the company said, and will result in an unspecified number of job losses in Makati. But it will also make Cavite the company's biggest facility worldwide for assembly and final testing of flash-memory and microprocessor chips. Several functions, including sales and marketing, call-center operations, and flash memory chip design, will remain in Makati, Manila's main business district.

The additional funding will bring California-based Intel's total investment in the Philippines to $1.3 billion. Intel has been operating in the country for 27 years, which it says is one of its lowest-cost locations. Intel currently employs close to 6,000 people in the country. The company said it does not yet have a handle on how many jobs will go as a result of the consolidation.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo welcomed Intel's decision, saying it marked the return of investor confidence in the country. Intel has been the Philippines' largest exporter for the past five years.

The company's move to expand its operations there may quell concern that Southeast Asia is lagging in the race to attract investments from multinational corporations. Last year, Intel said it plans to invest $302 million to expand its semiconductor assembly facility in Shanghai, China.

Aside from the Philippines and China, Intel also operates a third major chip-assembly facility in Penang, Malaysia. Intel posted fourth quarter profits that outdid forecasts last week, although the company said it did not see signs of recovery following the worst year in the chip sector's history.

It also slashed its capital expenditure for 2002 by 25 percent from $7.3 billion in 2001. Shares of Intel fell 5.32 percent to $31.70 in U.S. trade on Tuesday.

Arroyo wins backing for Abu Sayyaf hunt
January 23, 2002 Posted: 6:05 AM EST (1105 GMT)

MANILA, Philippines -- Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has won the support of the country's highest security body amid growing public opposition over the participation of U.S. troops in efforts to crush a Muslim militant group in the south of the country.

The National Security Council threw their support behind the government after Arroyo assured them that no American troops would be allowed to engage in direct combat with the Abu Sayyaf Group.

"We would like to state categorically that the president's policy decision is that the Americans are not going to be engaged in combat, period," said National Security Adviser Roilo Golez. Arroyo convened the council on Wednesday amid widespread criticism over her decision to allow U.S. troops to conduct a joint military exercise with Philippine soldiers in an actual combat zone.

Philippine Vice President Teofisto Guingona, who was reportedly close to resigning, backtracked on his position and has decided to keep his post. Guingona earlier slammed Arroyo's decision, saying the exercises were a clear violation of the country's constitution. Under Philippine laws, foreign troops are not allowed to engage in combat in the country.

Guingona still hints at misgivings but has accepted the Justice Department's position that Arroyo had "valid authority" to proceed with the exercise. "Regardless of any feelings that I have, we have to respect the official stand of the Department of Justice," Guingona, a former justice secretary, said after the meeting.

Presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said the president was pleased over the consensus among the members of her administration. The council includes Arroyo, the vice president, defense and security officials, majority and minority leaders in Congress, and former presidents.

Some 660 U.S. soldiers are expected to take part in the joint military exercises dubbed as "Balikatan 02." The exercise will be conducted around the Southern Philippine island of Mindanao where the Abu Sayyaf has several camps.

The group is believed by intelligence officials to have ties with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, accused of masterminding the September 11 terror attacks on the U.S. In an effort to quell growing public opposition, security officials said the exercise would only for last six months.

Golez said the exercise would also be held "in utmost transparency," adding that a presidential human rights committee would be set up on Basilan to receive any complaints. Public opposition grew after it was revealed the U.S. troops would be allowed to the front lines and carry weapons for self-defense, and that the exercises would last for a year.

On Wednesday, baton-wielding police clubbed student activists who staged a protest in front of the Presidential Palace. Anti-American groups have also staged protests in front of the Philippine U.S. Embassy in Manila.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States is sending American trainers to work alongside the Philippine army to help in dealing with the Abu Sayyaf. "Their problem -- terrorism inside the Philippines -- threatens Philippine citizens, but also American citizens or other citizens who might be tourists ... and we are missing two citizens at the moment, and we want to get our citizens back," Powell said. "We want to help the Philippine government defeat this kind of terrorism."

RP-US deal signed by Armed Forces Chief
Posted: 11:42 PM (Manila Time) | January 21, 2002
By Juliet Javellana and Cynthia D. Balana
Inquirer News Service

"THE PACT entered into by the Philippines and the United States is really a 10-year "arrangement" to provide mutual military support, supplies and services, a ranking official told the Inquirer, adding that it was Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Diomedio Villanueva who signed for the Philippines. The veteran official, who requested anonymity, suggested that the parties chose an arrangement rather than an agreement because it would facilitate matters.

An agreement is contracted by two parties to implement the same thing. It becomes part of the laws of the land. An arrangement really means aregluhan or ayusan (a fixing)," the official said. The official added that Vice President and Foreign Secretary Teofisto Guingona Jr. was bypassed when Villanueva was made the signatory of the Mutual Logistics Support Arrangement. Guingona co-chairs the RP-US Mutual Defense Council with US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Admiral Dennis Blair, the commander in chief of the US Pacific Command, reportedly signed for the United States. The official's revelations come in the midst of debate over the deployment of US troops in Basilan island and the reported new pact. In the Senate, the principal author of the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement said US engagement in pursuit operations against the Abu Sayyaf is not covered by the VFA. If such activity were part of the joint operations under the "Balikatan" war games, Sen. Blas Ople said, it must be stopped. For the US military to join combat operations against the Abu Sayyaf, a new treaty is required, Ople said. It is a treaty which the Senate must reject, he added.

Ople is chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations. In the House, Ilocos Norte Rep. Imee Marcos detailed the contents of an alleged draft of the "Mutual Logistics Support Arrangement, RP-US-01 between the Department of National Defense of the Republic of the Philippines and the Department of Defense of the United States of America." She charged that the draft MLSA illegally contained a clause on appropriation, which only Congress can initiate. Senate President Franklin Drilon said that the committees on defense and foreign relations would tackle the twin resolutions to investigate the ongoing RP-US military exercises tomorrow.

"The joint hearing is a bipartisan approach to clear the air amid legal concerns raised by some quarters," Drilon said. "After this hearing, we will know the real score on the matter." Drilon said the joint hearing would seek to determine whether the "Balikatan" military exercises in Basilan and Zamboanga were being conducted in accordance with the Constitution and the Visiting Forces Agreement. He said that top security and foreign affairs officials of the Macapagal administration had been invited to brief the senators on the legal parameters of the exercises, the scope of the involvement of US troops and other questions on sovereignty and security. The officials include Vice President Teofisto Guingona, Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, National Security Adviser Roilo Golez, AFP Chief Villanueva, former Senate President Jovito Salonga and ex-Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile.

But in his privilege speech, Ople said that administration officials, including the President, had been speaking in discordant voices on the issue. He warned the government against contemplating another treaty that would cover the participation of American soldiers in any anti-insurgency campaign. "If it is part of the joint military operations, then this violates the Constitution per se and therefore will be rejected by the Senate if it comes to us in any form," he said.

Sen. Edgardo Angara said it was not necessary for the government to "put more clothing" on every joint RP-US military operation. Angara said the government must be truthful to the people on the real nature of the American presence here. He cited a US report which quoted the Pentagon on the dispatch of additional American troops here, including an arrangement that would allow them to join pursuit operations against the Abu Sayyaf and the right to fire back when fired upon.

"Why is our own government not leveling with us?" he asked. Drilon promised to relay to the President the request of minority senators for a presidential briefing on US military presence in the Philippines.

"Is this draft the secret treaty that so many allege? Has it really been signed by our Department of National Defense? To these, as to many other questions surrounding Philippine-American policy these past months, we have no answers. Why must we be always the last to know?" Marcos said. The daughter of the country's martial law president said the title seemed to confirm the reported intent to evade the constitutional prohibition on foreign bases and troops. She cited the definition of support and services in the draft as: billeting, transportation (including airlift), communication services, medical services, base operations support (and construction incident to base operations support)..." "It shows that this will not be mere equipment exchange but would allow reestablishment of US bases," Marcos said. She also said the arrangement was one-sided because it excluded most military equipment from being transferred to the Philippines.

But the "ultimate fallibility of the proposed MLSA" was its provision that the reciprocal provision of logistics support, supplies and services would be "in return for either cash payment or . . . reciprocal provisions" and that all obligations of the two parties would be subject to the "availability of appropriations for such purposes." "Ladies and gentlemen, is this not an appropriation clause, never to be initiated except by this House?" Marcos said. She said the logistics support, supplies and services would not be offered free of charge by way of grants-in-aid but through reimbursements.

"How do we pay? With what do we pay? Shall we provide the Americans with 200 kumpits (small boats) in exchange for aircraft in the anti-terrorism campaign in Basilan?,'' she asked. "Shall we requisition as fair exchange value 1,000 Kapampangan girls for R&R (rest and recreation) and logistics services?," she added. Negros Occidental Rep. Jose Apolinario Lozada Jr., in his interpellation, queried Marcos whether it was true that the MLSA was signed some four weeks ago during the trip of Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes to Hawaii where he met with Blair. Marcos said "many allege that the DND" had indeed signed the arrangement. "It also bothers me," Lozada said, adding that the arrangement "does not fall under any rule that would demand Senate ratification."

Outside the halls of Congress, opposition to the joint RP-US war exercises continued to widen, as militant fisherfolk asked Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin to denounce the US military build-up in Mindanao, while farmers picketed the US embassy to demand an immediate troop pullout. The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakay ng Pilipinas urged Cardinal Sin to issue a strong statement against the "immoral, demonic, evil and blasphemous" joint military exercises. The group branded the RP-US joint military exercises as the "war games of the demons."

More than a thousand farmers led by the militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas turned the park in front of the US Embassy into a campsite and called on US President George W. Bush to respect Philippine sovereignty by pulling out American troops in Mindanao. The farmers who camped and staged a vigil at Plaza Ferguzon came from the Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Cagayan Valley and Cordillera regions. The militant group Sanlakas said the exercises were among the secret deals the President entered into with Bush during her weeklong US visit last November. Wilson Fortaleza argued that if these exercises are allowed despite violations of the Constitution, the Mutual Defense Treaty and the VFA, "there must be another agreement that we don't know that allows it."

Dolphin trainer wants Subic dolphins freed
Posted:8:53 PM (Manila Time) | January 18, 2002
By Nini Valera
Inquirer News Service

THERE are more than 1,000 dolphins known to be in captivity, and 4 of them are in the Philippines and are the main attraction at the Ocean Adventures Park at Camayan Wharf in the Naval Magazine area in Subic. But Richard O' Barry, formerly a world famous dolphin trainer who taught television's Flipper its cute tricks, wants to liberate the Subic dolphins from their watery grave.

Even if he cannot do this himself because "it's up to the Filipino people and the Philippine government" to free the dolphins, O'Barry is in the country to talk to local veterinarians, students and environment officials to apprise them of the cruelty of keeping dolphins in a pen in the guise of "education."

"I am here to be the spark plug of a movement that hopefully would free these dolphins," O'Barry said on Thursday night during a private showing of rescue work on dolphins held captive in Nicaragua, Peru, Guatemala and Brazil.

On Sunday, O'Barry and representatives of Earth Island Institute-Philippines Inc. and Philippine Animal Welfare Society, Inc. will go to the controversial theme park in Subic and find out the state of the dolphins' health in their unnatural captivity. Envisioned to be the crowd drawers, the dolphins perform to please the audience and supposedly give them an "educational" experience, including the chance to swim and frolic with them for an additional fee on top of the 400-peso entrance fee to the theme park.

In their attempt to free the dolphins, O'Barry and Mark Berman, animal rights activist and assistant director of the International Marine Mammal Project based in San Francisco, California, will be up against an old nemesis, Timothy Desmond, himself a world-class dolphin trainer. Desmond was responsible for importing the Subic dolphins from the dolphin-drive fisheries in Japan, which animal rights activists have condemned as a brutal and bloody practice of catching the sea mammals. He also heads the Subic Bay Marine Exploratorium, which owns and operates Ocean Adventures Park in Subic.

Already a respondent in a criminal case filed against SBMA by local environmental and animal rights groups, Desmond appeared to have wriggled out of reach of the law through legal loopholes. He succeeded in completing the Subic theme park, which is now open to the public, despite a cease and desist order the Department of Environment and Natural Resources issued last year.

Why O'Barry, now fifty something, has taken the cudgels for dolphins, which he used to capture and train for shows as in the popular '70s television series "Flipper," is a story of sin against the gentle sea creature and redemption of the captor. "I knew back then that it was wrong but I just didn't do anything about it," said O'Barry. "We're talking about a lot of money here. I walked away from that. I could have stayed. (Dolphin shows) are a billion-dollar industry. I would buy a new Porsche every year. Now, I would buy a new bicycle every five years."

But when Cathy, the female dolphin that played Flipper for seven years, died in his arms, O'Barry was transformed. "She swam to me, looked me in the eye and decided not to take the next breath," recalled O'Barry, who had written about Cathy's death in his first book, "Behind the Dolphin Smile." Cathy committed suicide, he said. "I've seen these so many times, in so many places," he said. "Usually, they lie on the surface of the water. I call it captive dolphin depression syndrome... I coined that phrase. It comes from isolation. Dolphins are isolated in a cage, and they're very social creatures. At that point, they can choose not to take the next breath. Breathing to them is a conscious effort. That's what Cathy did; she never took another breath."

O'Barry said he tried to revive her, but Cathy had wanted to die. The Flipper series had ended the year before Cathy died, and she was separated from O'Barry for the first time in seven years. "She became very depressed," he said. "In between shows, you can see them very depressed especially if they're in isolation. That's what killed her really." Suicide, pneumonia, liver ailment, respiratory infection, drowning are among the most common reasons for dolphin death while in captivity, according to O'Barry.

While the cause of death of one of the five dolphins Desmond had brought to Subic from Japan was never known, it is almost certain that it did not die from old age. SBMA veterinarian Dr. Christopher Torno had given strict instructions not to let any non-government organization investigate the dolphin's death last July 30.

Even if the four other dolphins in Subic live, O'Barry said he is almost certain that they are suffering. The best thing that could happen to these dolphins is to rehabilitate them and set them free, he said. O'Barry also proposes that once liberated and rehabilitated, the Subic dolphins could become ambassadors promoting the release of other dolphins and captivity and campaigning against drive fishing in Japan.

"These dolphins are Japanese," O'Barry noted. "They were captured from a drive-fishery in Japan. If they're released, I would rehabilitate them and bring them back to Japan."

Prepared to Fight Terrorism, U.S. Troops Establish Base in Philippines
January 17, 2002
By REUTERS

MANILA (Reuters) - U.S. soldiers set up camp on Thursday on an island in the southern Philippines where they will join operations against Muslim rebels linked to Osama bin Laden, a new phase in Washington's war against terror. In Manila, a chorus of protests erupted against U.S. troops' involvement in the battle against the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas and an opposition leader said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo could be impeached.

``In one deceptive and treasonous move, she has succeeded in making the Philippines a virtual extension of Afghanistan,'' former senator Francisco Tatad said in a statement. He said the guerrillas, who are based on the island of Basilan and elsewhere in the Mindanao region of the south, were primarily a domestic problem. ``A president who asks a foreign military power to solve her own domestic problems...commits treason, which is an impeachable offence,'' Tatad said.

The United States is sending about 160 special forces and 500 support and technical staff to Basilan and the nearby city of Zamboanga to join the Philippine military in fighting the Abu Sayyaf. The deployment is likely to be complete by mid-February. Although the troops are officially there as non-combatants, it is the biggest expansion of Washington's war against terror beyond Afghanistan.

An advance party of about a dozen U.S. soldiers was on Basilan, 900 km (560 miles) south of Manila, Thursday and set up camp at a military base on the rebel-infested and thickly forested, mountainous island, television reports said. The soldiers, dressed in camouflage fatigues and carrying only sidearms, were reconnoitering the area and checking on perimeter security, local officials said. ``I am working with my Filipino counterpart here and we're going over logistics issues and things based upon the ongoing exercises but really that's the scope of my field,'' U.S. Army Major Charles van Auken told ABS-CBN television.

Some 1,000 Abu Sayyaf rebels are believed to be on Basilan, which is about three times the size of Singapore. They have been holding a U.S. couple and a local nurse hostage there for over seven months. Some 5,000 Filipino troops have been trying to rescue the hostages and have often engaged the guerillas in brutal close combat. The government says about 50 soldiers and over 150 guerrillas have been killed since June.

Government officials reiterated the U.S. soldiers would only provide training and advice, after left-wing and opposition leaders said the developments were reminiscent of Vietnam in the 1960s. Critics have said the move violates a constitutional bar on the presence of foreign troops in the Philippines. The only exceptions to the bar are if the troops are in transit or on training exercises. The government has said the deployment is part of the regular Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) exercises between the two countries.

``They are just there for advice and consultancy,'' presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao told the dzMM radio station. ``We are really insistent in our explanation that this is a joint training exercise... This cannot be a joint operation.'' But U.S. troops will accompany Filipino counterparts on patrols, including on Basilan, and will be armed and authorized to fire in self-defense. The number of troops involved, the duration of the exercise until at least June and the rules of engagement indicated it was a serious joint operation, said Senator Rodolfo Biazon, a former armed forces chief.

``All it will take is one bullet fired by an American soldier that would kill a Filipino civilian, such as what happened in Afghanistan, and the political stability of the country will be adversely affected.'' Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, also a former military chief, said the United States had offered its troops in a combat role, but that Arroyo had refused. ``That was at the White House, I was there,'' he said. ``What President Arroyo said was we don't need American forces because our soldiers are good, they can fight.

``What the president said was if you want to help us, help us in the form of transfer of technology, equipment that we can use together. That has not changed.'' Karapatan, a left-wing group, likened the developments to 1960s Vietnam. ``What started as a routine visit of U.S. war advisers became a project for the national oppression of Vietnamese people,'' it said.

Probe of e-mail order bride service urged
Posted:6:40 AM (Manila Time) | January 14, 2002
By Inquirer News Service

TWO online firms based in Florida are engaged in an illicit e-mail order bride service victimizing Filipinas, according to Senate Majority Leader Loren Legarda. Legarda identified the two firms as Davis Place International Internet Services and World Class Service.

The firms maintain and operate three websites -- www.filipina.com, www.filipinawife.com and www.filipinalady.com -- that "exclusively and boldly sell Filipinas as brides and sex commodities," Legarda said in a press statement. She said the Department of Foreign Affairs "should invoke moral grounds and make strong representations with the US government to call the attention of these two online firms that are engaged in a business that brazenly exploits and degrades Filipino women."

The senator urged the Philippine Embassy in Washington to identify the owners and operators of the two agencies so that the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation could blacklist them. "None of these persons should be allowed to come to our country," Legarda said.

For a fee ranging from two dollars to 60 dollars, www.filipina.com and www.filipinawife.com offer access to catalogues of hundreds of Filipinas, including their complete names, addresses and other personal details. The website www.filipinalady.com offers annual or lifetime membership that grants access to a database of prospective Filipino brides. Membership costs 50 to 75 dollars annually. Payments may be made by credit card, money order, check or cash.

Legarda called on the National Bureau of Investigation to find out if the two online firms have local partners, who solicit Filipinas for enlistment as mail-order brides. "Since the servers of these online agencies are obviously based in the US, we cannot prosecute them here for lack of territorial jurisdiction. But what we could go after are their local partners or agents," she said.

A special law already bans and penalizes the matching of Filipinas to foreigners as mail-order brides and other similar practices, according to Legarda.

The Philippine Anti-Mail-Order Bride Law was enacted in 1990 after dozens of Filipinas, lured by mail-order bride firms, were later found to have been forced into prostitution. "Other victims ended up as battered wives or forced domestic laborers," Legarda said. Despite the existence of the anti-mail-order bride law, some 2,000 Filipinas continue to enlist with mail-order bride agencies annually because of poverty and lack of education, according to a report prepared by the Women's Legal Bureau Inc.

"The law is flawed because of its failure to designate a specific agency that will monitor and ensure enforcement (of the law)," she said. Legarda underscored that "new ways of marriage matching using cyberspace and other forms of communication are beyond the reach of the law." Under the law, what is penalized is "the matching of Filipinas for marriage to foreigners either on a mail-order basis or via personal introduction for a fee.

ANGELES CITY -- Minor girls are seen to dominate the Fields Avenue scene as they increasingly become the main fare offered to foreigners patronizing nightspots in this world-famous entertainment district. More young girls are now seen working in bars as operators find their way around the laws.

Despite city hall's strict regulations on the industry, somehow bar operators have devised ways to beat these, making them freely recruit children. All women workers are required to obtain licenses and permits for work in this recreation strip that became famous during the American's occupation of Clark Field lasting about half a century.

Managers claimed that a memorandum of agreement with the LACEM, bars and other establishments are allowed to employ girls who do not have the licenses required by city hall. They said the temporary hiring of girls to work as dancers, waitresses etc. may last up to two weeks within which the girls' permits are processed. At the end of that period, they said the girls are laid off if their licenses and other documents are not completed.

Interviews revealed that in most cases, the girls are employed continuously because this time frame is more than enough to finish or complete their papers. Girls said their managers take the responsibility for obtaining the requirements for their licenses or permits. The managers, these girls added, take it upon themselves to arrange the prerequisite for the eventual issuance of the new employees' licenses or work permits.

Sources said the managers, without question, often manage to obtain the said licenses. Sources said police are only allowed to conduct raids or inspections when they are accompanied by other agencies or groups.

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Two Olongapo City officials who removed a streamer branding Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon a "dictator of Subic" were beaten up on Saturday allegedly by supporters of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chair Felicito Payumo in Bataan. Fernando Magrata, administrator of the James Gordon Memorial Hospital, said he and his brother Joey, executive assistant of Olongapo Mayor Katherine Gordon, were punched, kicked and slapped by seven men, all armed with M-14 Armalite rifles.

But Senior Insp. Rommel Velasco, Dinalupihan police chief, said the Magrata brothers suffered only "slight injuries." Lawyer Roy Pastor, SBMA labor chief, said the attackers were village guards from Roosevelt, a village in Bataan on the boundary of the freeport's Tipo Gate, where the anti-Gordon streamer was hung.

The guards have relatives working at the SBMA, it was learned. Pastor said the attack came on the heels of a conflict that started Dec. 9 over the management of the PTT-Bloom Gas and Service Station inside the freeport. "This was a hostile reaction triggered by dozens of anti-Payumo streamers put up inside the port. The streamers are so derogatory. Some are with invectives," he said. Payumo could not be reached for comment on Saturday. He was in a meeting in Morong, Bataan, Pastor said.

Fernando Magrata, reached by telephone at the Dinalupihan District Hospital where he and his brother were taken, said they had just passed the gate at 11:30 a.m. when Joey decided to stop and get the streamer. They used the Tipo Road on their way to SM City in Pampanga to buy car accessories, Fernando said. It was out of respect for Gordon that Joey took the streamer off the gate, he said.

Immediately after, Fernando said the seven men, who emerged from one of the SBMA offices along Tipo, approached them. According to him, they were first taken to a "safehouse" near the gate. There, he said, they were subjected to an endless round of punches, kicks and slaps.

Uproar over Estrada's lavish party
January 10, 2002 Posted: 6:23 PM HKT (1023 GMT)

MANILA, Philippines -- Tighter restrictions have been slapped against deposed Philippine leader Joseph Estrada for hosting a lavish Christmas party inside the military hospital where he is being detained. The incident has also prompted the Philippine National Police to sack Estrada's entire security detail for being "too friendly" with him.

The party was reportedly held at the hospital's presidential suite. Local media reported that Estrada gave away gifts such as tickets to Hong Kong, refrigerators, and other home appliances. In addition to the party, authorities also found Estrada and his son to have been allowed the use of mobile phones and were given other privileges not accorded to detainees. The country's Interior and Local Government department has since assigned a new team of jailers for Estrada, and has implemented stricter detention guidelines against him and his son.

Government prosecutors in the plunder case against Estrada meanwhile reiterated their request for the transfer of Estrada and his son, Jinggoy, to the heavily secured Fort Santo Domingo. Ombudsman Aniano Desierto said that Estrada should be transferred there where they will be tightly guarded to prevent them from 'abusing the law' and the 'hospitality' of the government.

"They should be immediately brought there [Fort Santo Domingo]. They have been violating regulations by doing what is not accorded to detention prisoners," Desierto said. Should they be transferred to Fort Santo Domingo, Estrada and his son will share the sprawling compound with former Muslim rebel governor Nur Misuari. Misuari is facing rebellion charges after mounting a failed uprising in Mindanao.

The Estradas have been in detention for about eight months now on a non-bailable charge of economic plunder. The former movie actor is accused of having amassed more than four billion pesos ($77 million) during his 31 months in office that ended in a popular revolt in January. Estrada is also facing separate charges of graft, perjury, and illegal use of an alias. He has denied all charges.

US pledges $55M in Mindanao development aid: Macapagal
Posted: 7:36 PM (Manila Time) | January 04, 2002
By Agence France-Presse

COTABATO � US President George W. Bush has pledged up to 55 million dollars in development aid to the troubled southern Philippine island of Mindanao, where economic growth has remained stagnant over years of Muslim insurgency, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Friday. Ms Macapagal said Mindanao was a top priority in her discussions with Bush in a state visit to Washington in November, during which she also received pledges of military support in her war to crush the Abu Sayyaf Muslim bandit group.

"While President Bush expressed support for our campaign against the Abu Sayyaf, he also said it was important to address the root of economic and social problems in Mindanao to improve peace and pursue social development in Muslim communities," Ms Macapagal told a press conference while on a visit here. "Bush announced that his assistance for Mindanao will reach 55 million dollars," she added.

Separately, the World Bank has also pledged to pump in some 45 million dollars to the south. The funds are to go to development projects to be administered by the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), a Muslim self-rule area in Mindanao. Ms Macapagal said the first tranche of the US assistance, amounting to some 20 million dollars, was expected in time for the induction on Saturday of Parouk Hussin as the governor-elect of the ARMM.

The ARRM, composed of five provinces, remains a largely impoverished section of the south, despite large aid contributions made earlier from the national government. Officials said this was largely due to mismanagement and large-scale corruption during the term of renegade Muslim leader Nur Misuari, now detained in Malaysia after fleeing a failed revolt he launched in the south in November.

Misuari, 60, formerly was the leader of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), which ended its rebellion for an independent Islamic state when it signed a peace deal with Manila in 1996. He was subsequently elected as ARMM governor, a post he held until Ms Macapagal in November backed Hussin as his replacement.

Ms Macapagal said she remained hopeful of brighter prospects for Mindanao, stressing that the military will soon crush the Abu Sayyaf and Manila will eventually seal a peace deal with the insurgent Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which has been fighting for an independent Islamic state after splitting with the Misuari's MNLF in 1978.

"Mindanao is a centerpiece of the national agenda for growth, Mindanao is a lynchpin of our effort of national development," she said.

Philippines lands $1B Lehman pledge
January 3, 2002 Posted: 12:39 PM HKT (0439 GMT)
By Amabelle Layug
CNN Hong Kong

MANILA, Philippines (CNN) -- Lehman Brothers has pledged to invest up to $1 billion in the Philippines recovery fund. The move by the American investment bank will give the ailing Philippine economy a dramatic boost this year, according to Philippine House Speaker Jose de Venecia. The $1 billion Philippine Recovery Fund will buy problem debts from banks, to stimulate various parts of the economy, particularly housing. But critics say Lehman's input may be more of a publicity stunt designed to win favor for politicians and future business for the investment bank.

Lehman pledged to invest up to $1 billion, together with its private sector joint venture partners in the fund, in a December 13 letter to Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The investment bank said it would front an unspecified amount of money for "economically viable opportunities."

The fund would be used to securitize home mortgages, the Malampaya natural gas in Palawan, and to finance housing projects and economic development. The financial process of "securitization" involves buying assets, bundling them and selling them on, to spread risk.

The fund will be all "equity, targeted for development, not debt," the government states. It will be used to buy problem loans and real estate, as well as foreclosed real-estate residential mortgages, from commercial banks in the Philippines. The government pegs the total value of the problem debts at 270 billion pesos ($5.2 billion).

De Venecia, the speaker of the Philippine House, lauded the move on Wednesday. He said it would have a dramatic impact on the Arroyo administration's economic-recovery programs. The politician said it would provide liquidity to the Philippine government, raise long-term capital, lower interest rates, expand home ownership, generate jobs, and create a strong, sustainable domestic capital market.

"This move by Lehman Brothers is certain to touch off a series of optimistic developments during the first quarter of the year," he said, per a statement from his office. Aside from providing liquidity, de Venecia said the investment would create a "liquid secondary market for loans, mortgages, and real estate" which in turn will create a "sustainable housing financing system." Buying problem loans from banks gives the banks cash for new loans. The buyer, often a company set up by an investment bank, tries to collect on the discounted bad debts.

But critics downplayed the investment as nothing more than a publicity stunt for both the government and the bank. "The government is only using this to promote good news," a political analyst who did not want to be identified told CNN. "How far can $1 billion go to solve the housing backlog and fix the financial sector in the country? This is one of the government's empty promises to win public support for the next election," he said.

As for Lehman, he said that the move is just another strategy to secure other business from the Philippines government. "It seems odd that Lehman would suddenly decide to invest in the country, especially at a time when other investment banks have pulled out because of political and economic instability and law and order problems," the analyst noted.

The Philippines was beset by problems over personal security last year. Rampant kidnappings, even of executives brazenly abducted in downtown Manila, have driven many overseas brokerages and banks to pull their operations. In mid-December, a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit survey showed that kidnapping, corruption, armed rebel groups and a volatile exchange rate make the Philippines one of the worst places in Southeast Asia to do business.

When deposed President Joseph Estrada was arrested for the capital offense of plunder, there were high hopes that the unprecedented case would send the message that finally, the country meant business in its campaign against cronyism and corruption. Eight months after, however, it has become clear that in this country, there are miles to go between the filing of a criminal complaint and its resolution.

The trial has been delayed numerous times. Estrada's place of detention stirred controversy. There were questions about the Sandiganbayan's jurisdiction over the case, about the legality of Estrada's ouster and the constitutionality of the law against plunder. Even as the Supreme Court deliberated on the questions, there was a sideshow at the Sandiganbayan: Presiding Justice Francis Garchitorena had an open feud with the justice handling the plunder case, Anacleto Badoy.

Garchitorena was the first to go, on orders of the Supreme Court. Badoy, who has been acting quirky since the celebrated case landed in his lap, later took a sick leave but returned soon after. The other day the Supreme Court announced that Badoy was "considered on leave until further orders" from the tribunal, pending resolution of a complaint filed against him by defense lawyers for improper conduct. Both government prosecutors and defense lawyers have said they wanted Badoy taken out of the case for good. Meanwhile, over at the lead government agency handling the case, Ombudsman Aniano Desierto is fending off an impeachment complaint.

Will this circus ever be over? Instead of a historic trial, we have been treated to slapstick. There have been enough distractions in this landmark case to make the people nearly forget the testimonies and evidence presented during Estrada's impeachment trial. Now the despondent former president, needing some Christmas cheer, wants to spend the holidays with his family in San Juan. And Badoy's division has suspended the trial till January. At the rate this case is going, it will take a lifetime to resolve.

Australian politicians and women's rights groups on crusades to close the go-go bars in South-East Asia's "sex without the sea" resort of Angeles in the Philippines can save themselves the trip to possibly the world's least endowed tourism location.

Angeles, which vies with Pattaya in Thailand as Asia's most notorious sex tourism destination for Westerners, is dying a slow death, terminally ill from a dramatic drop in visitors and attempts by women's activists in the Philippines to close the bars and massage parlours.

Another sharp fall in tourist numbers in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US has only hastened the decline of a city with a population of about 1 million that depends almost entirely on sex tours, mainly from Australia, for its livelihood.

Angeles has attracted the ire of many Australian women's rights advocates and politicians protesting about the "kangaroo" sex tourists who have been the mainstay of the Angeles go-go bars for the past two decades.

Australians account for about 13,000 of the tens of thousands of foreigners a year who visit Angeles on sex tours. About one in six Australian tourists to the Philippines visits Angeles.

The many Australians who own bars and hotels in Angeles are, unfortunately, the most visible side of Australia's paltry investment presence in the country. There are about 10 bars owned by Australians, although the number is falling because of slumping revenues, and about six hotels. Occupancy in the city's 30 hotels, at 30 to 35 per cent, is the lowest in years.

Several major hotels are on the market. The Brisbane owners of the Swagman Hotel, accused by a politician of running sex tours to Angeles, have been looking for a buyer for more than three years. The Australian accent is still the most prominent foreign tongue, and Victoria Bitter T-shirts abound. Australian representatives of non-government organisations still routinely patrol the streets giving out condoms and warning the hundreds of Australian males who frequent the city's 50 or so go-go bars of the danger of AIDS. "Most of them turn and flee before I can even open my mouth," said one.

Sex tour operators in Australia are becoming increasingly defensive of the town's reputation as the predominant destination in Asia for hard-core sex tourists, as the Philippines seeks belatedly to clean up its image for encouraging prostitution. Angeles has escaped before. The closure of Clark Air Force Base and the eruption of Mt Pinatubo in 1991, killing 900 people, forced the city to the brink of extinction. It clawed its way back thanks to help from the US and massive government aid. The town's reputation as a sin city was revived mainly by a crusading mayor in Manila who closed the dozens of go-go bars in Ermita and Mabini. Many bar owners relocated to Angeles. But, faced with a downturn in visitors that has led to bars closing and many hotels being put up for sale, Angeles is unlikely to dodge the latest bullet.

The number of visitors was falling well before September 11 because security issues, highlighted by the kidnappings of the Abu Sayyaf scared off many sex tourists. The several thousand Australians living in Angeles, mainly ex-servicemen, were shocked by the fatal stabbing in August of Australian hotel manager Owen Dolan. There is an insurgency problem in the area and there was a shoot-out between the air force and communist rebels early this year.

The number of break-ins at hotels and attacks on foreign tourists has increased in the past six months. Attempts by Philippines tourism authorities to make it clear that sex tourists are not welcome has also deterred some Australians from visiting Angeles. The head of the Department of Tourism, Richard Gordon, is keen to change the image of tourism in the Philippines.

Gordon is scheduled to visit Australia next year to encourage more Australian students to visit the Philippines. "We are aware of the kangaroo sex tourists," he said. "We won't tolerate any shenanigans here in the Philippines. I know that there still could be miners who work in the bush for months and then come to Angeles on sex binges. "There are many cultural links between the Philippines and Australia that we are keen to develop.

Australia is a very important market for us." The head of the tourism department has an added incentive to eradicate sex tourism in the Philippines: he does not want to be upbraided by his wife any more. Kate Gordon, his partner, is regarded as a strong campaigner against the sex industry in the Philippines. Ms Gordon, the mayor of Olongapo, has already sent owners of go-go bars in her city packing and wants to do the same in Angeles.

However, the mayor of Angeles, Cormelo Lazatin, is known to be reluctant to get rid of the bar operators. He is supported by most Angeles denizens who know the city would not survive the closure of the bars. The mayor was returned to office recently after easily defeating a woman candidate, Sosan Pineda, who ran on a ticket of closing the bars. It is difficult to imagine Angeles without a sex industry.

There is little else to do - some would say nothing else to do - in a hick town that grew into a city after the American military arrived in the 1930s, when Clark became the biggest air force base in the world. The shabby, dusty street overlooking the base has the grand name of Fields Avenue. It looks like little more than a row of shacks and comes alive only at night.

Australian tour operators, still insistent that there are no sex tourists in Angeles, point put that there is a bowling alley and golf. A quick check of the bowling alley and nearby virtually deserted golf courses indicated that most visitors were happy with the city's main drawcard. Unlike Pattaya, which is beginning to attract families - bizarre as it sounds for such a raunchy sex resort - there is little shopping in Angeles and no beach or wonderful cuisine.

The sighting of Western women is nearly headline news in Fields Avenue. While Pattaya is now the haunt of Euro beer-louts in their 20s, Angeles depends on the "big bellies" in their 40s and 50s. The food in the restaurants around Fields Avenue is decidedly average at best. Even Hat Yai, an ugly dust bowl in the south of Thailand and the favourite sex playground of Malaysians and Singaporeans, has good shopping and excellent seafood.

Tourism in the Philippines is doing little better than in Angeles these days. The official figures are down about 9 per cent for total visitor numbers and about 18 per cent for Australians, but private estimates are that the figures are much worse. The Philippines has suffered more than South-East Asian rivals because there were security concerns long before September 11. The Philippines tourism sector has been a miserable underperformer, beset by poor infrastructure, corruption and inadequate facilities.

Although it has some of the best beaches in South-East Asia sprinkled throughout the more than 7,400 islands, and a warm and friendly people, the Philippines can muster only about 2 million visitors a year, compared with more than 10 million in Malaysia and Thailand.

Retail giant Henry Sy is putting up in Clark economic zone next year his second SM mall in Pampanga. The Clark mall was estimated to initially cost 2 billion pesos. Emmanuel Angeles, Clark Development Corp. president and chief executive officer, said Sy's SM Holdings Inc. would sign the lease contract early next month.

SM Clark, the second in Pampanga after SM City in San Fernando, will be built on a 25-hectare lot located just next to the zone's main gate. With the scheduled construction of an SM mall in the area, owners and operators of 20 duty-free shops in Clark have started relocating their shops near the proposed SM site. Operators of duty-free shops in Clark believe the SM mall will help boost their sales. It was not yet clear if SM would also import duty-free goods, a privilege that Clark locators enjoy.

In another development, the Atlanta-based United Parcel Services began the construction of its computerized sorting warehouse in Clark on Tuesday. UPS, a package delivery firm, intends to start the operations of its 500-million-dollar Asian operations in Clark on April 5 next year, Angeles said.

In another development, Angeles said CyberCity, one of Clark's 19 biggest American locator-firms in information and communication technology, has gone full stream in its expansion bid which would employ 6,000 workers in the next three years.

On Expo Pilipino, Angeles said talks were underway between Disneyworld and AsiaKonstrukt for the construction of a theme park in the area. AsiaKonstrukt is the government's partner in developing the centennial centerpiece. Expo Pilipino was closed in 1999 due to declining number of visitors. Still, the Expo is reopening on Feb. 14 as an education and entertainment center.

Entertainment City
Posted:8:05 PM (Manila Time) | November 25, 2001
By Doris C. Dumlao
Inquirer News Service

THE STATE-RUN Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. is negotiating a deal with two big foreign groups on the development within three years of a 65-hectare reclaimed property along Roxas Boulevard into a 15-billion-peso Entertainment City-a Las Vegas and Disneyland rolled into one.

In an interview with the INQUIRER, Pagcor chair Efraim Genuino said only a few legal issues were being ironed out with these two consortia-composed of big investors from Taiwan, the United States, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, China and Australia-and that a deal would likely be closed within the year or early next year.

The Pagcor chief said President Macapagal-Arroyo would announce the identity of these foreign investors upon the signing of the contract. The mammoth project will include three mega-casinos, six theme parks, a marina and sports complex, an indoor rainforest, shopping malls, offices and residential condominium, an elevated mass transit system, an educational/cultural complex, a hotel, a housing village for Pagcor employees and even a hospital. It will be the future site of Pagcor's headquarters and the center of casino operations in the country.

"We are focusing on this Entertainment City. Once completed, this project will triple the income of Pagcor and the government will not spend a single centavo for the development. And this project will bring billions of dollars to the country," Genuino said. To start the project rolling, Genuino said Pagcor would use 15 billion to 18 billion pesos worth of proceeds from its ongoing bond float to buy the land from the Public Estates Authority, which, in turn, would remit the funds to the national government to help cover its widening budget deficit.

Initially measuring 65 hectares, the land for the project could be expandable up to 100 hectares, he said. The land would be Pagcor's stake in the project while the foreign investors would shoulder the cost of development. Genuino said the land would be divided into two, each of which would be separately developed by the two foreign consortia chosen to become Pagcor's strategic partners for the project. About 9 billion dollars of the entire project cost would be spent for the theme parks with three different themes: a tropical rainforest, beach and lagoon; a marina and sports complex, and a shopping mall and winter park.

If completed by 2004, Pagcor's Entertainment City is seen to bolster business activity along the reclaimed Roxas Boulevard property. By 2005, retail tycoon Henry Sy's Mall of Asia is expected to start operations. It is also near the 750-hectare Cyber City being developed by Amari Coastal Bay Development Corp. As part of its strategic plans, Genuino also said Pagcor would build along Roxas Boulevard a new college to offer bachelor's degree in gaming management. The only remaining obstacle to the project, Genuino said, was that Pagcor's corporate life would expire in 2008. While the company is still working to get a fresh mandate from Congress, he said a new subsidiary, Pagcor International, was now being organized to handle the Entertainment City project.

One of the government's cash cows, Pagcor remits 50 percent of its earnings to the national treasury. It also contributes to other agencies such as the Philippine Sports Commission and to the Presidential Social Fund. For this year, Genuino estimated that the gross winnings of the gaming monopoly, which operates 13 casinos in the country, would hit 16.5 billion pesos, exceeding the 14 billion pesos chalked up last year despite the more difficult economic environment.

SURVEY REVEALS HIGH SPENDING OF U.S. NAVY CREWS AS JOHN C STENNIS CALLS ON HONG KONG

Visiting US Navy crews contribute some of the highest spending of all visitors to Hong Kong, a recent survey by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has revealed, with a typical fleet call producing more than HK$30 million in revenue for local shops, restaurants, bars and hotels.

This timely news comes as the aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis and its battle support group arrives in Hong Kong tomorrow (30 November) on a port call before heading to the Arabian Sea to support the campaign against terrorism in Afghanistan. Over the next few weeks, some 10,000 crew will be taking their well earned �rest and recreation� in Hong Kong.

The last aircraft carrier was in port for five days in August. The USS Constellation, one of the largest vessels in the US Navy fleet, brought 6,500 crew in its battle group. Being the first aircraft carrier to visit for some time, it gave the HKTB an opportunity to extend its research into crew members� profiles and spending and to provide up-to-the-minute information on attractions and discounts to the battle group to gain a better perspective on their interests.

In 2000, servicemen and women spent HK$134.09 million, up 300% on 1999. HKTB Executive Director Clara Chong said that although the economic benefit of naval visits had long been recognised, limited research had previously been undertaken into the nature of crew spending. �We know they are big spenders, but we wanted to learn more,� she explained.

An ad hoc profile research exercise was conducted by the HKTB on 24 August in the Fleet Arcade at Fenwick Pier. �Our researchers interviewed 300 crew from the USS Constellation battle group, representing a cross section of age groups and ranks, to ascertain their interests, activities and shopping behaviour,� Ms Chong said. �This information is proving very useful to our business partners in their product planning and in customising activities to make these port calls more rewarding.�

Of the respondents, the median age was early 20s and about 10% were women, with 52% being single and 35% married with children. More than 91% of the USS Constellation battle group respondents said they were satisfied with Hong Kong�s attractions, 94.4% with shopping, 90% with the level of hospitality afforded by Hong Kong people and 95% on the overall experience.

Just under 80% of servicemen and women surveyed said they preferred independent exploration to organised tours, meaning effective provision of information on sightseeing itineraries, theme shopping and entertainment was of high importance. Their most popular activities were sightseeing (79%); shopping (71%); and nightlife (45%). Food preferences were Chinese seafood (57%); Western gourmet (39%); Cantonese (37%) and Japanese (32%), with the most popular dining establishments being restaurants and bars (63%).

Spending on shopping contributed to 61% of total spending. Items most purchased were souvenirs (78%), being the most popular item across all ages and profiles, representing 27% of all shopping expenditure; electrical goods (59%); clothing (53%) and jewellery (33%).

It was worth noting, Ms Chong said, that around 15% of personnel chose to stay in commercial accommodation while on shore leave and some 8% were accompanied by friends or relatives, in all cases flown in to join them on vacation. �In essence, this means that each crew member is worth 1.2 visitors to Hong Kong,� she observed. Also noteworthy was the fact that older crew members � generally those of officer rank � used high quality hotels when they chose to stay in commercial premises, spending an average of HK$4,017 on accommodation per visit. On the other hand, younger members spent more on shopping and entertainment. Plans to revisit for a vacation were high on the agenda, with 94% indicating their intention and 84% bringing family and friends along to share their experiences.

Ms Chong said that comparative surveys of all visitors to Hong Kong showed that those from the United States remained the highest spenders at an average HK$5,572 per capita for the period January to September 2001, 13.5% more than in the same period in 2000. �Our survey of the USS Constellation crews confirmed that US naval personnel have relatively high per capita spending, which at HK$6,300 is 13% higher than that of the average visitor from North America,� she said. �It is clear from these statistics that visiting ships are great contributors to Hong Kong�s economy. The 7,000 or more crew in town over the next five days will spend around HK$40 million alone in shops, restaurants, bars and hotels.�

News and Info Current		News and Info Archive 11	12/04 - 12/05
News and Info Archive 10	1/04 - 12/04	News and Info Archive 9	7/03 - 12/03
News and Info Archive 8	1/03 - 6/03	News and Info Archive 7	8/02 - 1/03
News and Info Archive 6	3/02 - 7/02	News and Info Archive 5	3/02 - 2/02
News and Info Archive 4	11/01 - 1/02	News and Info Archive 3	11/01 - 7/01
News and Info Archive 2	3/01 - 2/00	News and Info Archive 1	- 1999

	Next Stop Mindanao
	Good, clean fun for GIs - bad news for bar girls
	Intel invests up to $100M on Philippines plant
	Arroyo wins backing for Abu Sayyaf hunt
	RP - US deal signed by Armed Forces Chief
	FREE the Subic dolphins
	Prepared to Fight Terrorism, U.S. Troops Establish Base in Philippines
	Probe of e-mail order bride service urged
	Minors still dominate Fields Avenue in AC
	Olongapo City Officials Beaten
	Uproar over Estrada's Lavish Party
	US pledges $55M in Mindanao development aid
	Philippines lands $1B Lehman pledge
	Estrada trial delayed numerous times
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