Malacanang attacks US think tank for bad press

From the Daily Tribune:

With an American think tank tagging President Arroyo as a weak leader and an unreliable ally to boot, Malacañang yesterday reacted by indirectly accusing the United States government of orchestrating this negative projection of Mrs. Arroyo to punish her for her order to withdraw Philippine troops from Iraq.

The negative outlook on the President's weak leadership style, as assessed by a United States-based conservative think tank, Heritage Foundation, has drawn strong criticisms from Malacañang, saying such an assessment is evidently biased against the Chief Executive with the intention of getting back at her owing to her decision to withdraw the small Philippine contingent from Iraq as demanded by the Islamic militant in exchange of the release of a Filipino hostage.

Heritage Foundation, which has been widely praised by notable conservatives, is widely regarded as one of the world's most influential public policy research institute.

In a television interview, Press Secretary and concurrent presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye yesterday said: “I can see where the supposed think tank is coming from. The bias is very obvious.”

Bunye stressed the President has no regrets in withdrawing the tiny contingent from the conflict-torn Middle East state nor is there a need for her to apologize to the US and its foreign major allies that had criticized her for her decision on the Iraq crisis, saying such a decision sparked a spate of kidnappings of foreigners in Iraq.

According to the Heritage Foundation, which had supported the President and her government immediately after the Edsa II uprising, the Arroyo administration's foreign policy made her an appeaser of terrorists and a weak leader, prone to flip-flip on decisions that raise concerns whether she can be trusted.

“The longer her administration makes foreign policy for the Philippines, the more it seems that threats from terrorists and regional bullies influence her more than diplomatic and financial aid from Manila's friends and allies,” Dana Dillon, senior policy analyst of Heritage Foundation, said in an opinion piece published by the AWSJ last Oct. 7, which was reprinted by the Tribune the next day. The Palace then refused to comment on the piece.

The Heritage Foundation's negative output on Mrs. Arroyo's credibility was seconded by the World Economic Forum (WEF) analysis that dropped 10 notches to the 76th level from last year's 66th in terms of the country's slow economic growth, state of the country's quality of the macroeconomic environment, the state of a country's public institutions which is being rocked by graft and corruption scandals; and the country's readiness to technology.

And when faced with the negative reports and bleak reality, all Malacanang did was spin, spin and spin.