August 10, 2004

Transcripts of Media Availability of
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Albert
and U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone
at DFA
Monday, August 9, 2004

SECRETARY ALBERT: Good afternoon everybody. During Ambassador Ricciardone’s call today, we discussed the state of relations between our two countries and reiterated our common determination to strengthen these relations.

These are relations that, as the President has stated, are more than a century old, tightened by common political tradition, by world wars fought together, by tens of thousands of brave soldiers who died in the battlefield of freedom. On October 20, we will jointly commemorate the sacrifices and heroism of our two peoples during the 60th anniversary of the Leyte Landing.

Cooperation between our two countries continues on many fronts. As strategic treaty allies, joint military exercises continue throughout the year, particularly in the area of counter-terrorism. The RP-US Mutual Defense Board will be meeting shortly to prepare for next year’s joint military training exercises. Cooperation will also continue over the next 5 years on the Philippine Defense Reform Program.

We continue our cooperation in support of efforts in our search for peace in Mindanao particularly in post-conflict rebuilding.

Our economic, trade and cultural relations remain robust. Interest in the Philippines remains high and is reflected in the investment mission organized by the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council for September.

Our relations go beyond any disagreements we may have had over the issue of Iraq.

But even on Iraq, we have far more areas of agreement. We were together in shepherding United Nations Security Council Resolution 1546, a resolution that not only laid the groundwork for the return of Iraqi sovereignty, but which also healed the divisions in the United Nations over the issue of Iraq.

We also share a common desire to remain committed to the future of Iraq. The Philippines will continue to do what it can, within its capabilities and pursuant to its interests, in helping the people of Iraq. The Philippines also continues to condemn the acts of terrorism in Iraq, the attacks on innocent civilians and efforts to breed intolerance and hatred. Both our countries maintain the hope and the confidence that the Iraqi people will live free from fear and will have peace and progress.

Our meeting today symbolizes our belief that our relations remain vibrant.

As the President has stated our peoples have enduring historical, cultural, and economic ties with America personified by the 3 million Filipinos who live in the United States and these relations are held together by a permanent history.

Our relations continue to be strong because of the deep respect for each other. Thank you.

AMBASSADOR RICCIARDONE: It was a special pleasure to have a chance to meet with the Secretary for an hour today, and to see her for the first time in her re-designed office -- it is extremely tasteful and attractive. It brings a sense of the Philippines with it. It’s warm and quite beautiful, and I congratulate you on that, Madam Secretary.

This is the first chance I have had to speak since I’ve come back from Washington. I would associate myself with the statement of the Secretary in general terms. As Secretary Powell has said and Deputy Secretary Armitage when he was in Baghdad and saw me last week, we do have very important, historic relations, very important common interests. We’ve already been working on those. I wouldn’t suggest to you that nothing has happened -- we did have a very serious disagreement. It is one that we think has had an impact on our interests and those of the Philippines, as well as our allies and of the Iraqis. There’s no gainsaying that. Nonetheless, we are going to be working as hard as we can on all the things that are important to both of our countries.

I was very impressed with President Arroyo’s statement on Friday evening. She made very clear her own commitment, her government’s commitment, to supporting the rebuilding of Iraq with the contribution of the Filipino workers who are there; her own commitment to continuing to work with all your country’s allies in the global war on terrorism. These are things that are important to both of our countries and we respect that and we look forward to continuing to work together on that. So I’m glad to be back in the Philippines and I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and to continuing our work together. Thank you very much.

Q & A:

Q: Are you having a joint statement issued later today?

SECRETARY ALBERT: I made my statement.

Q: Mr. Ambassador, what happens now to our non-NATO alliance (inaudible)?

AMBASSADOR RICCIARDONE: I don’t think we’ve taken any decisions with respect to that.

DFA SPOKESMAN BERT ASUQUE: If we could ask the reporters to please hold their questions, we will take one or two questions. We will only take one or two questions, and then we will close the event. May we have one question, please?

Q: I’m Hazel, Phil. News Agency – Madame Secretary, there’s a Bulgarian declaration for those who are opposed to the hostaging and the terrorism in Iraq -- what is your stand or comment to that?

SECRETARY ALBERT: I will repeat to you our statement. We also share a common desire to remain committed to the future of Iraq. The Philippines will continue to do what it can within its capabilities and pursuant to its interest in helping the people of Iraq. The Philippines also continues to condemn the acts of terrorism in Iraq the attacks on innocent civilians and efforts to breed intolerance and hatred. Both our countries maintain the hope and the confidence that the Iraqi people will be free from fear and will have peace and progress. That is our statement.

Q: (Sandra Aguinaldo, GMA-7): Mr. Ambassador, can you please explain further the statement of your government that the Philippines no longer belongs to the coalition of the willing?

AMBASSADOR RICCIARDONE: No. The spokesman made a statement -- I thought it was very clear. I certainly have nothing to add to it or subtract from it. The Press Spokesman of the Department of State made very clear what he was talking about and I don’t have anything to add.

DFA SPOKESMAN BERT ASUQUE: Thank you.

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