Page 89 - Conflict, Terrorism, and the Media In Asia

78 Benjamin Cole
The use of military force was interpreted as being evidence of the hawks becom-
ing increasingly powerful and of their desire to force the MILF out of the
resource-rich Liguasan Marsh, in order to secure access for big investors
(Inq7.net 2003a). A subsequent editorial went even further by claiming that the
whole military strategy for dealing with the MILF had been a failure and that it
was actually a number of political and diplomatic factors which had forced the
MILF to the negotiating table (Inq7.net 2003d).
Some sections of the media have also reported stories that the AFP could have
hyped up terror threats for its own purposes. In 2004, Senate Minority Leader,
Aquilino Pimentel Jr, requested that the AFP present proof of an alleged plot by
members of the MILF with links to JI, to blow up the US embassy in Manila, in
order to remove any suspicion that it was a ploy to draw public attention away
from a congressional probe on corruption in the military (Manila Bulletin 2004h).
Some sections of the media have also displayed some sense of even handedness
by reporting briefings from conflicting government sources (Manila Times
2003e). However these examples are overwhelmed by the preponderence of
reports based on AFP briefings, over which the media continues to routinely sus-
pend its critical faculties. Yet this has not facilitated change in government policy
because the majority of the media also reflects the official government policy of
pursuing political solutions with the MILF and the CPP-NPA.

The Filipino media and US interventionism
By placing the ASG, the CPP-NPA, JI and the Pentagon Gang on its list of foreign
terrorist organisations, the US has identified the Philippines as one of the main
battlegrounds of its ‘war on terror’ in Asia. In turn, President Arroyo is com-
pletely committed to the ‘war’, even to the extent of supporting the invasion of
Iraq on the grounds that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction might find their way
to the ASG or the MILF, although her popularity has suffered as a result (Coronel
2003). The closeness of the Bush–Arroyo relationship means that US views and
objectives in the ‘war on terror’ are central to Filipino government policy and are
widely reported in the media. The US is often reported in a favourable fashion,
including direct reporting of President Bush. Addressing a joint session of the
Philippine Congress in 2003, Bush promised to help bring the ASG to justice, to
work with all Southeast Asian nations to destroy the JI, and committed US devel-
opment assistance to Mindano once peace had been established. He called the
US–Philippine military alliance ‘a rock of stability in the Pacific’. The Manila
Times commented that

these pronouncements come across as genuine and sincere. And they are
exactly what many Filipinos want to hear. His message is clear and reassur-
ing: ‘The United States and the Philippines are warm friends. We cherish that
friendship, and we will keep it strong’.
(Manila Times 2003f; Mindanao Daily
Mirror 2005f)