January 24, 2002, AFP, Arroyo wins backing for joint US military operations against Muslim rebels,

January 24, 2002, AFP, Arroyo wins backing for joint US military operations against Muslim rebels,

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo won crucial backing from Congress and key cabinet members for the deployment of US soldiers in joint operations against the Muslim Abu Sayyaf group allegedly linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Arroyo told a key National Security Council meeting that the US Special Forces troops would focus on training and refrain from any combat role, aides said.

She convened the council after Vice President and concurrent foreign secretary Teofisto Guingona expressed doubts over the legality of the ongoing deployment of at least 600 US troops in Mindanao and nearby islands in the country's rebellion-torn south.

During the meeting, riot police at the presidential palace gates baton-charged a small group of left-wing demonstrators.

"The president is happy that there is a consensus," Arroyo spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao said of the joint operations to be held under the auspices of the traditional war games between the two countries.

The council members present, including former president Corazon Aquino, accepted the justice department's position "that the president can approve this exercise under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) as the chief architect of foreign policy," National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said.

Manila and Washington signed the VFA treaty in 1999 to provide a framework for conducting regular joint military exercises. The two allies also have a 1951 mutual defense treaty.

Guingona, who earlier reportedly threatened to quit the cabinet, "supports this decision", Golez added.

"The president has categorically stated as a policy decision that the Americans will not be engaged in combat," Golez said.

Washington describes the deployments as an extension of its global campaign against terrorism that began in Afghanistan.

At least 160 US Special Forces trainers are set to deploy in Jolo and Basilan, island strongholds of the Abu Sayyaf. Some US support units are already in the Philippines.

Both governments say the Abu Sayyaf has ties to the al-Qaeda movement led by Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, the main suspect in the September 11 terrorist attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives in the United States.

Abu Sayyaf gunmen have held a US Christian missionary couple hostage on Basilan for seven months. They had previously ransomed off dozens of foreigners and locals and had beheaded others.

Guingona told reporters later that he was not quitting the cabinet.

"Yes, I was given the opportunity to speak out," he said.

"Regardless of my reservations, I have to respect the opinion" of Justice Secretary Harnando Perez, who briefed the meeting over the legality of the joint operations.

The exercises "will be for six months, and it's going to be handled with utmost transparency," Golez said.

The government's Human Rights Commission would also set up shop in Basilan "in case some people have complaints there regarding violations of human rights."

The 1987 constitution bans foreign troops, bases and equipment on Philippines territory unless under a treaty.

Leftist groups warned that the US campaign would next target the communist New People's Army (NPA), a guerrilla group waging a 32-year insurgency. Both the NPA and the Abu Sayyaf figure in Washington's blacklist of "terrorist" organizations.

But Golez said the council members "recognized that there is overwhelming public support for the exercise especially in the Mindanao area."

Military spokesman Colonel Frank Gudani said the press would be given "free access" to cover the joint maneuvers.