United States Foreign Aid Philippines

Talks With IMF on Economic Program to Reopen: The Philippines reopens talks with the International Monetary Fund this week to try to hammer out an acceptable economic program so the IMF can resume lending to the heavily indebted country. Alone among the booming economies of Southeast Asia, the Philippines heads into 1992 with its economy stagnant or contracting, investment levels falling and its borrowing program with the IMF in limbo.

Foreign Secretary Raul Manglapus said that, in his talks with U.S. officials this week in Washington, he will insist that the United States pay $1.2 billion for the use of military bases in the Philippines. Manila's chief negotiator on the bases ruled out lowering the figure, described as "out of bounds" by Secretary of State George P. Shultz. The agreement for U.S. use of Subic Bay Naval Base and Clark Air Base expires in 1991.

Secretary of State James A. Baker III, en route to Tokyo for meetings with embattled Prime Minister Sosuke Uno, said Monday that he will reassure Japan that the sex and bribery scandals that have engulfed the government will not damage U.S.-Japan cooperation. Talking to reporters on the flight from Washington, Baker said the U.S.-Japan relationship "is strong . . . durable . . . and very, very important, not just to the Pacific but to the world as a whole."

Sen. Alan Cranston said Saturday that Washington has no extra funding to increase aid to the Philippines but could help boost imports from that country into the United States. The California Democrat, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he plans to discuss indirect ways of boosting the Philippine economy with President Corazon Aquino during a visit to Manila early next month. One method of helping the Philippine economy would be to defend its exports from U.S.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz told Congress on Wednesday that the United States has failed to live up to its obligations in the Philippines and that Filipinos will remember the failure. "We've done ourselves a disservice," he said. "We haven't come up with the money." Shultz was pleading with members of the House Appropriations Committee for additional money this year and next.

U.S. Ambassador Stephen W. Bosworth said Wednesday that the Philippine government should become less dependent on the United States in the future and begin looking to other nations for aid and trade markets to rescue its battered economy. "Both we and the Philippines will be better off in the future if the Philippines is able to broaden somewhat its focus on the rest of the world," Bosworth said in an interview.

A majority of Americans believe that the United States should not be trying to influence events in the Philippines, and 56% oppose cutting off foreign aid to that nation, the Los Angeles Times Poll has found. Asked whether the U.S. government should continue its aid to avoid harming the Filipino people or cut off economic support to show its displeasure with President Ferdinand E. Marcos, only 30% of the public supported ending aid to the Philippines.

The United States granted a $20-million loan to the Philippines on Thursday to help repair roads and buildings damaged by the July 16 earthquake. Philippine officials said more than 1,600 people died in the 7.7 temblor.

Ending a week of often rancorous talks, U.S. and Philippine negotiators agreed Friday to new negotiations on the future of six American military bases in the Philippines, setting the stage for a renewed U.S. military presence in the western Pacific. Publicly, the negotiators agreed only to a "discussion" of a "new relationship" between Manila and Washington, including political, economic and military matters. But U.S.

U.S. and Philippine negotiators ended a fourth day of talks Thursday on the future of American bases in the Philippines without reporting any breakthroughs. The two sides disagree on whether the United States failed to make full aid payments, and on when the facilities would actually have to close if the two sides cannot reach a lease agreement.

Negotiations with the Philippines over continued U.S. use of six military bases there will be "very difficult" because of growing anti-American sentiment, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney predicted Saturday. Returning to Washington from a two-week tour of Asian capitals, Cheney said that officials of the beleaguered government of President Corazon Aquino are reluctant to express support for the American bases because of the harsh domestic fallout from such a position.

In the most contentious meeting of his tour of Asian capitals, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney on Monday faced an angry Philippine Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos, who accused the Bush Administration of reneging on pledges of military and economic aid. Cheney said at a press conference that the United States "would like to do more" to assist the Philippines but that the U.S. Congress is unlikely to restore a $96-million cut in pledged payment for use of six U.S.

An adviser to President Bush met Thursday with Philippine President Corazon Aquino to express support for her fragile government and concern that she act decisively to forestall another attempted coup. Robert M. Gates, who is Bush's deputy national security adviser, met with Aquino for 90 minutes. He will meet today with her secretary of defense, Fidel V. Ramos, before returning to Washington.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz, wearing a doll with the likeness of President Corazon Aquino on his lapel, declared Tuesday that preservation of the embattled democracy of the Philippines is so important that "every man is a Filipino." Shultz, making his third trip to the Philippines since Aquino ousted Ferdinand E.

Signaling a potential change in congressional sentiment, staunch pro-Israel Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) called Tuesday for shifting at least $330 million in U.S. foreign aid from Israel and four other key recipients to Panama, Latin America's drug-fighting countries and Eastern Europe's "new democracies."

A 25-member group of nations led by the United States and Japan on Wednesday pledged $3.5 billion in aid this year to help the Philippines salvage a poverty-ridden economy and prop up its fragile democracy. The amount was far more than had been expected. The surprise announcement, made by the World Bank acting as chairman of the international aid consortium, was followed by another unexpected pledge from Japan to offer a $600-million Export-Import Bank loan.