From: Stasi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Xinhua: Survey Shows Most Filipinos Oppose U.S. Help in Fighting Abu Sayyaf HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- Sunday, January 20, 2002 5:54 PM Survey Shows Most Filipinos Oppose U.S. Help in Fighting Abu Sayyaf -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Xinhuanet 2002-01-20 10:25:40 MANILA, January 20 (Xinhua) -- Most Filipinos oppose the participation of U.S. troops in wiping out the Abu Sayyaf bandit group, according to the results of a recent survey. In the survey conducted by the Ibon Foundation Inc.'s Databank and Research Center for the period of November to December of last year, 1,136 respondents from various sectors were asked whether they approved of the direct participation of U.S. troops in the fight against the Abu Sayyaf. Ibon said 52.73 percent of the respondents replied "no," and 40.32 percent, "yes." But of the 450 respondents from Metro Manila, 48.44 percent answered "yes," and 42.67 percent, "no." More than 600 U.S. troops, including the elite Special Force soldiers, are arriving the Philippines for a war exercise which will feature "test missions" aimed at wiping out the Abu Sayyaf and rescuing its hostages, American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and Filipino nurse Deborah Yap. Critics say the presence of the U.S. troops violates the Constitution, and activist groups are demanding their pullout. Butthe Department of Justice has said the U.S. presence was consistent not only with the Constitution but also with the Philippines-U.S. Visiting Forces Agreement and Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT). Enditem _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
