MANILA, Philippines -- The United States has raised its military aid to the Philippines for 2008 by a “few million,” but tied it to the unsolved extrajudicial killings in the country following the successful lobby of Church leaders in the US, an advocacy group has said.

The $30 million US military aid to the Philippines for 2008 is higher than the $23 million in 2006. There is no available data for 2007.

But the Ecumenical Advocacy Network (EAN) on the Philippines claimed that its lobby successfully caused the inclusion of the provision tying the release of $2 million of the $30 million military aid to human rights issues in the Philippines.

In a report to its members, a copy of which was sent to INQUIRER.net, the network of church peoples said that the “Foreign Military Financing Program” section of the US 2008 Appropriations Act provides that the $2 million would only be released to the Philippines “after the Secretary of State reports to the congressional Committees on Appropriations that:

• The Philippine government is implementing the recommendations of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions;
• The Philippine government is implementing a policy of promoting military personnel who demonstrate professionalism and respect for human rights, and is investigating and prosecuting military personnel and others who have been credibly alleged to have committed extrajudicial executions or other violations of human rights; and
• The Philippine military is not engaging in acts of intimidation or violence against members of legal organizations who advocate for human rights.”

EAN, which wrote congressmen and senators about the state of human rights in the Philippines and pointed out how its sad state might be improved through the US military aid, said this meant that the State Department must report to the appropriations committees in the House and Senate about the Philippine military.

“The government of the Philippines will be given $28,000,000 and if they respond positively to items 1 to 3, an additional $2,000,000 will be given. Of course, the government of the Philippines can just ignore this provision and forgo the extra $2,000,000. Also, the State Department could release the $2,000,000 after reports that represent only token compliance,” the report said.

The US military aid to the Philippines for 2008 became final only on Dec. 26, 2007, when US President George W. Bush signed a large omnibus appropriation bill that included this item in the State Department Foreign Operations funding.

The lobby group said the campaign to raise the issue of unsolved extra-judicial killings of activists, pastors, union officers, and journalists in the US was a partial success.

“With the help of…many other groups across the country, the EAN was successful in getting human rights language in the bill. The language was not as strong as we would have liked, and we were not successful in getting a decrease military aid. In fact, the aid increased by a few million,” it said.

“At the beginning of 2007 few in Congress had even heard of the extrajudicial killings in the Philippines. However, we were at the core of a growing and galvanizing movement in the US demanding accountability for our military assistance. We have made incredible progress over the past year,” it added.

The successful lobby of the ecumenical group caused, among others, separate hearings at the US House of Congress and US Senate on the Philippine human rights situations. These hearings last March were attended by Filipino Protestant bishops, who detailed the tortures, warrantless arrests, and harassments to their flock.