Philippines and the United States 2004-2005: Defining Maturity

2004 was an important year for the security relationship between the United States and the Philippines. After several years of rapid improvement, a relatively minor event the decision to withdraw a small Philippine military contingent from Iraq one month early in response to kidnapper threats to kill a Filipino truck driver became a symbolically defining moment in the relationship. While both countries acknowledged the overall importance of the partnership, the challenge was to frame the stakes as being more than emboldening terrorists versus protecting Philippine citizens. In other words, 2004 was a year that challenged the maturity of the relationship, with both sides examining how its interests were being served while recognizing the potential for a divergence of those interests going forward. The challenge for the Philippine government was to ensure that the U.S. continued to see a strong relationship with the Philippines as strategically important. The dilemma between saving the life of a Filipino, and potentially others who lived and worked abroad, while remaining strategically significant to the U.S. is symbolic of the general perception in the Philippines of the relationship with the United States. On the one hand, a strong relationship with the U.S. is critical to the well being of the country for a variety of economic, social and political reasons. On the other hand, there is an underlying fear that the security of the Filipino people will be sacrificed for the sake of the relationship. In 2004 President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said she would put the Filipino people first in the equation. That decision was consistent with the approach her administration has taken to the American global war on terror. By emphasizing the Philippine dimension of that war, she has worked to enlist American support for a new domestic economic development and reform agenda focused on underlying causes rather than on the involvement of international terrorists.