Press Release
March 12, 2007

Recto : Palace lobbyists in US must help RP present case

Its the job of embedded Malacañang lobbyists in the US Capitol, if there are any, to make sure that the side of the government is heard.

If the lobby firm Venable is still engaged, then I presume that the terms of reference include assistance and representation in presenting the Philippine case.

The aim is to install a firewall between the inquiry and US aid and trade concessions to the country which should not be jeopardized by any adverse publicity.

With its awful record in Iraq, the United States may not be in the best position to pontificate on human rights, given one reputable and uncontested British estimate that 100,000 Iraqi civilians had died since the US invasion.

This is not to condone the killings here, which I have consistently condemned, but US politicians should be more concerned about the holocaust in Iraq, some committed by their own forces, than poking their nose here.

But if we want our own internal business not ending up as a Washington sideshow, then something convincing must be done from our end, such as implementing the recommendations of the Melo Commission.

When the killings stop, the investigations do too.

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