Word: arroyos
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo hasn't suffered much from her recent decision to withdraw 51 troops from Iraq to save the life of Angelo de la Cruz, a Philippine truck driver kidnapped by insurgents in Fallujah. Despite a rebuke last week by Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer?"If we start caving into terrorists," Downer boomed, "our foreign policy, our international relationships will be determined by terrorists"?Arroyo has been flaunting her decision to grant the kidnappers' demands and bring home the soldiers as a badge of honor. She crowed about De la Cruz's homecoming in her annual State...
...Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last week chose a different route. By recalling her country's troops a month before they were scheduled to leave, she may have saved De la Cruz, 46, a father of eight. But she damaged relations with Washington and may well have encouraged more kidnapping of foreign nationals. "This kind of action cannot be allowed to succeed anywhere in the 21st century, above all not Iraq," chided U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell...
...Arroyo negotiate with the terrorists? (According to diplomatic sources, the government offered a $1 million ransom for De la Cruz but the insurgents turned it down.) Arroyo's own presidency may have been at stake just weeks after she won re-election to office. After De la Cruz was kidnapped, protests and prayer vigils calling for troop withdrawal were held all across the Philippines. Some 4,000 Catholic priests and bishops released a petition urging Arroyo to do everything in her power to gain his freedom. Rallies in the capital, Manila, were getting rowdier by the day. "The only logical...
...Cruz was kidnapped by insurgents outside Fallujah on July 8 and threatened with decapitation unless the Philippines' 51 peacekeepers were pulled from Iraq, Manila was presented with an all-too-familiar dilemma. (Similar demands have been made of Japan, South Korea and Italy.) Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last week chose to recall her country's troops a month before they were scheduled to leave, and may have saved De la Cruz, 46, a father of eight. But she damaged relations with Washington and may well have encouraged more kidnapping of foreign nationals. "This kind of action cannot be allowed...
...That remains to be seen. While Arroyo's inauguration is scheduled for June 30, Poe can still challenge the result, and street protests claiming the President fixed the elections continue to simmer. The lingering acrimony will surely hinder Arroyo as she pursues her top priority: shoring up the country's deteriorating finances. The government is projecting a budget deficit of $3.6 billion, while foreign debt has climbed to $56.7 billion?so high that the Philippines must continue borrowing just to pay off the interest, a situation that could choke the economy's recent growth. The trouble is, the President...