DoD News Briefing
15 September 2000
Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen
(Joint press conference with Philippine Secretary of National Defense
Orlando Mercado, Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, Philippines)
Moderator: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is going to be a
very tight, rather rigid 15-minute news conference because of the
tight schedule of the secretary, Secretary Cohen. So, we start it by
making the two personalities give their very brief remarks, starting
with Secretary Mercado.
Secretary Mercado: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We welcome
Secretary Cohen on his third visit to the Philippines. It's truly been
a pleasant task to welcome you Secretary Cohen. The military
relationship, the relationship of military institutions, has been
progressing with the larger view of our security concerns.
We're thankful that since the visit of Secretary Cohen, when he first
came to the Philippines, at his insistence and we concur with his idea
that we should have a framework under which we understand our roles in
this particular region. We have had exchanges of experts who have been
discussing our direction for the military relationship between the
Philippines and the United States. And this is after the ratification
of the Visiting Forces Agreement. We're very happy that things have
been moving on and we are very happy to welcome him on his third
visit. Mr. Secretary.
Secretary Cohen: Thank you very much, Secretary Mercado. As you
pointed out this is my third visit to the Philippines as secretary of
Defense and I think it is a strong signal of the ties that we have
between our two sovereign nations. I particularly want to thank
Secretary Mercado for hosting this brief but, I believe, important
visit. The leadership provided by President Estrada and Secretary
Mercado has made the year 2000 one of great progress in the security
relationship between the Philippines and the United States as
illustrated by President Estrada's visit to Washington most recently
in July.
I had the great honor of hosting a meeting with President Estrada and
Secretary Mercado at the Pentagon. Our countries made progress on
environmental cooperation, the transfer of helicopters to help advance
Filipino military modernization plans and the U.S. efforts to help
improve Filipino World War II veterans' access to health care. And as
Secretary Mercado has just indicated, since the passage of the
visiting Forces Agreement last year, our forces have been able to
exercise together as they are doing even today.
The successful Balikatan 2000 exercise last spring is going to be
followed by other exercises and we intend to expand the exercise
schedule and ship visits at a pace that is acceptable to both
countries. Increased military cooperation between our countries is
going to improve the bilateral security between the Philippines and
the United States and contribute to regional stability. Our forces
worked well together in East Timor, the first UN peacekeeping force
there, performed very well under the Filipino leadership.
Right now, the Philippines is facing some difficult, internal
challenges from terrorists and secessionists in the South. The United
States strongly supports President Estrada's efforts and his
government to secure the prompt and safe release of the American
hostage who is currently being held as well as the other hostages. And
we support the government's continuing discussions to achieve that
goal.
We also support President Estrada's efforts to deal with the problems
in Mindanao and his determination to work for a unified, prosperous
and democratic Philippines. We intend to work with you and with other
nations on mutual efforts to combat terrorism. We are improving our
program over the -- in the future. We're considering new ways to help
the Philippine military meet its needs. We have a joint defense
assessment team that is conducting a comprehensive examination of the
Filipino defense capabilities and needs and that team expects to
finish its work next month. And the analysis will help both countries
set priorities for using scarce resources effectively as possible. And
one area of support of course that we are considering is provision of
transport aircraft. The strength of our security relationship is based
on common values, common commitment to work together for the stability
of the Asia-Pacific region, both bilaterally and also through regional
cooperation.
It made great progress during the past two years. We placed a strong
foundation for future cooperation that will be beneficial for both our
countries.
Moderator: All right, I suppose you know the rituals: your name, your
outfit and make them as brief as possible because I said we have a
very tight schedule. First question from Doris Bigornia, ABS-CBN.
Q: Secretary Cohen, should the Philippine government decide to choose
the military option in handling the hostage crisis in Jolo, will you
support it?
Cohen: Well, as we have indicated, we hope that the situation can be
handled diplomatically and peacefully and that the hostages can be
safely returned. Any decision made by the Filipino government
certainly is a matter for the government to decide and that's up to
the government. We have encouraged President Estrada to continue to
seek a diplomatic resolution but ultimately, only the Philippine
government can make that decision.
Moderator: Mr. Charles Aldinger, Reuters.
Q: The Secretary has urged not to use force while continuing
discussions to free the hostages. Have you given him any assurances
that you will do that? And number two, the United States has offered
to provide special training to Philippine forces in counter terrorism,
and hostage rescue techniques, would you accept that offer?
Mercado: As far as we're concerned, we've had continuing training on
the part of our armed forces and our police on such matters. This is
not the first time. We've had training of our special forces on
hostage situations. But as far as we see it, the decision to utilize
or use such mechanism will be dependent on the president. The Cabinet
Cluster has met on the matter. We have made our recommendations. The
president has indicated that he feels the hostage takers should be
given a little more time. There should not be any precipitated action.
He believes that given a little more time, there might be a result
from the negotiations in a very short while. That being the case, we
have from the very beginning, continued to plan but held our forces in
view of this particular request, and we will continue to do so unless
given the go signal by the president. But at the moment President
Estrada said let us not be precipitate in our action on this matter.
Q: Kathy Yan of CNN. Secretary Cohen, just a follow up on that. You
are offering a long-term solution to the hostage taking crisis, and
offering training in counter terrorism. But in the short-term, what
action is the U.S. government going to take to try to secure the
release of Schilling?
Cohen: I think, as Secretary Mercado just pointed out, we have an
ongoing relationship with the Philippine military. As you know, we
have special forces who are training here now. Contrary to some of the
published reports that have appeared on the local press, this was not
in response to the current hostage situation. It is part of our
ongoing training program, and we anticipate that we will continue such
training programs well into the future. And so, it is not necessarily
a long-term approach. It is a comprehensive approach that we are
taking with the training as beneficial to our troops as well as to
those who are in the Philippines. So, it is a comprehensive approach
that we are taking to the whole issue of counter terrorism. Terrorism
is not unique to the Philippines. We have seen the scourge of
terrorism spread to many, many countries. It has spread well beyond
the borders of this region and it needs to be looked at on the part of
many countries, and ways in which we can share technology, techniques
and information capabilities in order to defeat the scourge of
terrorism.
Q: James Mannion, Agence France Presse. Secretary Mercado, I wonder if
you could tell us whether you've asked for help from the United
States? Any assistance in terms of special capabilities the United
States might have in dealing with this hostage situation? And Mr.
Secretary, I was wondering if you offered any help in dealing with
this situation?
Mercado: Well, we're not at liberty -- I am not at liberty to indicate
to you what the specifics are, but there are discussions between our
military establishments and military forces and their counterparts in
the United States on this specific issue of the American hostage being
held as of the moment. But it is enough for me to say in general terms
that we have always had the cooperation of the United States on issues
that are not defined by borders. The issue of terrorism is a global
problem, and it has to be addressed in cooperation with other
countries, and the United States will always play an important role in
this matter. We have training that's ongoing. In fact, under the
sponsorship of the American Embassy and the Department of National
Defense, we just recently concluded training for negotiations,
training for our forces to be able to cope with incidents where there
are threats of weapons of mass destruction. All of these are ongoing
problems. These are not borne out because of one citizen who has been
held hostage. This is an unfortunate incident. But I think this
cooperation will continue. It will continue even on instances where
there are no kidnappings. But the focus of attention now is largely
because of this incident. But we would rather see this relationship
from a strategic point of view. That this is part of a continuing, a
longer relationship and these courses are just part of building our
capabilities. We believe that as far as this country is concerned,
while we may not have the technological capability all the time, we
are still capable of facing these threats as we have indicated and
shown our people in the recent clashes between the Philippine Armed
Forces and the MILF. With what we have, we have been able to cope and
I think we will continue to do so.
Cohen: I can't either expand or improve upon those answers. Secretary
Mercado has spoken for me.
Q: Could I just clarify, are you cooperating in this hostage situation
right now. Is there a cooperation crisis?
Mercado: Well, we always have cooperation between our military
establishments. I think terrorism is a common concern. How we are
doing it is something that we cannot specifically discuss.
Q: Under the Mutual Defense Treaty, there is a clause which says that
the US can step in and help the Philippines in case there is a threat
against national security, or a threat against RP-US interests. And I
think in this case, the case of the Abu Sayyaf is a threat to RP-US
interests. Aren't you going to step in or aren't you going to elevate
the level of the Abu Sayyaf to an international terrorist gang so that
you know...?
Cohen: We will always maintain our support for the Mutual Defense
Treaty that we have with the Philippines. The specific instance must
be determined on a case by case basis, but I don't think that one
should try to articulate what the circumstances would be at any given
time. We will meet our obligations from the Mutual Defense Treaty.
Q: Secretary Cohen, I'm Thomas Fuller from the Herald Tribune. Does
the case of Jeffrey Schilling, the fact that he walked into this camp,
does that in any way mitigates the government's view -- the view that
the government takes on this case?
Cohen: How he ended up in the hands of the group is really quite
irrelevant. He's being held hostage. He is being held hostage against
his will, and how he got there, really, is quite irrelevant. He should
be released immediately and safely, and that's something that we
certainly demand and hope will be achieved.
Moderator: We can accommodate one more question.
Q: Secretary Cohen, did you discuss with Secretary Mercado the
(off-mike, unintelligible)?
Cohen: We did discuss the fact that we are going to have more
exercises next year and the year thereafter. We expect to build upon
these exercises each year, as I indicated in my opening statement,
according to the pace that is acceptable to both countries. This
defense assessment team intends to complete its analysis by next
month, and then we will examine what the requirements are for the
modernization of the Philippine military, what the current resources
are, and how they can perhaps be expanded in the future. So, we intend
to look very closely, work very closely with the Philippine government
to achieve that end.
Mercado: Just to add to what Secretary Cohen has indicated, I believe
that the more important issue here is that, as he had indicated in our
conversation, is the assurance that the participation in a regional or
multilateral activity like an exercise, does not in any way -- is not
meant to diminish the bilateral obligations under the Mutual Defense
Treaty. It does not in any way -- it's not meant to marginalize an
existing bilateral military relationship that is borne out of the
Mutual Defense Treaty. And it is not also meant as a cooperative
effort to (inaudible) that any particular nation for that matter. It
is meant to enhance our capability in peacekeeping and meeting threats
like natural calamities and disasters, and being able to cope with the
modern-day problems that we face and require cooperation of the
security and military institutions of various nations.
Perhaps we can allow one last, last question.
Q: (inaudible)
Mercado: Well, the military status of the Armed Forces of the
Philippines, as you know, from the beginning, the moment the hostages
were brought to Talipao in Sulu, we provided a cordon. And we
prevented the entrance and the exit of any individual in that
particular area that we cordoned. Unfortunately, as a consequence of
the negotiations, it was felt that we were a complication, and we were
asked by the negotiators to pull back. We pulled back. We may not have
done it happily, we were grudgingly doing it, but we wanted to save
the lives because the President has indicated that the most important
consideration there was the safety and the lives of the hostages. We
pulled back. We all know what happened.
The Armed Forces and the military establishment -- our troops -- are
like an arrow drawn against the bow, and it has been stretched for
sometime. We have seen our target. We know our range. But we have held
that arrow in view of the policy articulated by this administration
that we do everything short of the use of military force to save the
lives of these hostages. Fortunately we have been able to get the
hostages -- original Sipadan hostages -- except one, the Filipino whom
I believe as of the moment is ambivalent as to whether he should exit
or not. But we have bent backwards, and it is unfortunate that
sometimes we do not even have as much as a thank you from other
quarters. And there is even a European country -- Foreign Minister who
has been criticizing us when -- after the release of their particular
hostage; but when the hostage was still being held, the Ambassador of
that country was calling us constantly and asking us not to use force
for fear that their national will be hurt or harmed.
So, as of the moment, the president has already made a statement.
While that option, that military option, has been there from the very
beginning, he has said, don't be precipitate in your action, hold that
arrow, because it is possible that we'll be able to obtain some
results in a very short while from negotiations. And we believe that
is the correct position. There's a clamor, I know, for us to send our
troops, but the president has so decided that it should not be so. Not
yet, anyway.
Moderator: As we said earlier, Secretary Cohen has a very tight
schedule so I guess we can call it an afternoon. Thank you.
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