MUST READ-A State of Terror: The Death of Human Rights in the Philippines http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/346.php

The GMA government supports the war on terror, as well as the invasion and military occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan by the U.S. and Canada. In addition to the implementation of OBL, in July 2007 the GMA government passed the Anti-Terrorism Law (ATL), or what has been dubbed the “Human Security Act.” This law closely resembles the U.S. Patriot Act and was enthusiastically supported by the Bush administration, which meant it was also a high priority for GMA.

This law is what makes the arrest and indefinite detention of activists and organizers without due process, labelled as “suspected terrorists,” permissible under the guise of national security. After the ATL was passed, the Bush administration increased military aid to the Philippines, his “major non-NATO ally,” by 1600 percent in 2008 compared with 2001. As a result, no other country in the East Asia-Pacific region receives more military funding than the Philippines, ranking it the 3rd country in the world in terms of receiving additional funding specifically for the training and education of its military

It is perhaps, then, no coincidence that the GMA government has been most aggressive in the repression of resistance groups in the Southern Philippines province of Mindanao, where the U.S. has expressed the most economic interest due to the presence of oil and natural gas. The Obama administration continues to provide the Philippines with its sizeable “foreign aid.”