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O 140943Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY MANILA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4275
RUEHZS/ASEAN COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MANILA 005003 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP 
STATE PLEASE PASS TO USDA/FAS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON EAID EAGR RP
SUBJECT: DCM SPOTLIGHTS U.S. PROGRAMS IN PROSPEROUS PROVINCIAL 
CAPITAL 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY.  Deputy Chief of Mission Paul Jones visited Iloilo 
City, the relatively prosperous capital of pastoral Iloilo province 
on the Visayan island of Panay, December 7-8.  He toured a U.S. 
Department of Agriculture funded dairy plant which supplies milk to 
more than 2,000 undernourished children daily, visited an emergency 
shelter for exploited children, talked to university students, and 
met with local religious and political leaders. The visit received 
significant local media coverage, including multiple television and 
radio interviews.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  The DCM began his trip to Iloilo City with a Q&A session at 
Central Philippines University (CPU), the site of an American 
Studies Resource Center (ASRC).  CPU was founded by American Baptist 
missionaries, who led the university until the 1960s.  At the ASRC, 
twenty-five CPU students participated in an informal dialogue with 
the DCM, who fielded questions on North Korea, USAID programs in 
Mindanao, and USG-funded HIV/AIDS programs.  Many of the students 
expressed their interest in seeking employment in the United States, 
inquiring about nursing exams and graduate programs. 
 
¶3.  The DCM visited the impressive Tigbuan Dairy Processing Plant 20 
miles outside Iloilo City - an unusual operation in a country where 
the benefits of dairy farming are largely unknown.  In FY 2006, the 
USDA donated more than one million dollars to the Philippine 
National Dairy Authority to purchase 400 dairy cows from New Zealand 
and to construct a modern milk processing plant at this site.  Local 
farmers earn additional livelihood by selling raw milk to the plant 
and more than 2,000 elementary school students receive free milk 
each day, substantially improving their health and increasing their 
performance in school.  This program has been similarly successful 
in other provinces, with more than 106,000 students receiving free 
milk each year. This program has been relatively low-profile, with 
few people aware of it, even in Iloilo City.  USDA is planning to 
publicize it more vigorously in 2007 as an example of USG efforts to 
improve health, livelihood, and education in the Philippines. 
 
¶4.  Counselors at the Visayan Forum Foundation Kasambahay Center, an 
anti-child-trafficking program, introduced the DCM to more than a 
dozen of their current and former clients during a tour of the 
facility.  The Center cooperates with local police and social 
workers to provide emergency shelter and counseling to exploited 
children, both abused domestic workers and those seeking to escape 
the sex industry.  The Center helps them return to their homes or to 
find better living and employment conditions where they can also 
continue their education.  The Visayan Forum Foundation, the 
recipient of ongoing USAID ($430,000) and State ($130,000) 
anti-trafficking grants and frequent partner in USG anti-trafficking 
efforts, provides the funding for the Center. 
 
¶5.  The DCM met with Archbishop Angel Lagdameo as a follow-up to a 
breakfast meeting hosted by the Ambassador in July 2006.  Archbishop 
Lagdameo is the current president of the Catholic Bishops Conference 
of the Philippines (CBCP) and an outspoken opponent of President 
Arroyo's administration.  Lagdameo vigorously explained the Catholic 
Bishops Conference continued opposition to ongoing administration 
initiative to change the current bicameral legislature to a 
unicameral parliamentary body (frequently called charter change.) 
The Archbishop was much less engaging on the moral aspects of 
trafficking in persons, which the DCM raised in the context of his 
visit to the Kasambahay Center.  The Ambassador and DCM had a 
similar experience with Lagdameo last July, and will continue to 
press the issue with him and other religious leaders. 
 
¶6.  Iloilo Provincial Governor Neil Tupas, during the DCM's courtesy 
call on December 8, attributed Iloilo's relative affluence and 
prosperity to the remittances and investment from the region's many 
seafarers and overseas contract workers.  He credited Iloilo's low 
crime rate to low unemployment and a diversified regional economy. 
Tupas commented that extrajudicial killings and New Peoples Army 
activities in the region are extremely rare. Along with other 
interlocutors, he cited the high cost of power and frequent 
brownouts as bars to new investment in Iloilo.  Politicians hope to 
build a new coal-fired power plant but face strong opposition from 
church leadership.  Tupas volunteered that he broke with President 
Arroyo together with his Iloilo political ally, former Senate 
President Frank Drillon, in the summer of 2005.  Tupas shared that 
just prior to a birthday party attended by President Arroyo the day 
before the DCM's visit, all of the mayors and governors in 
attendance were asked to sign a statement of their support for 
charter change; Tupas was the lone hold-out. 
 
¶7.  Press coverage of the visit was widespread, with a picture and 
article on the DCM's anti-trafficking center visit on the front page 
of the local paper the following morning.  The DCM also participated 
in a live radio interview on the most popular lunchtime show in the 
region (95% penetration) and in two taped television interviews for 
the only networks with local news programming.  During these 
interviews, the DCM spotlighted U.S. programs, interest and 
 
MANILA 00005003  002 OF 002 
 
 
investment in the region, particularly the USDA-funded dairy 
program.  In response to questions about the recently concluded 
Marine trial, he recapped the benefits to the Philippines from the 
Visiting Forces Agreement, and expressed our hope that the 
Philippine government would live up to its obligations. 
 
KENNEY