Is the Philippines Profiting from the War on Terrorism?

The Philippines is one of the foremost supporters of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), responding to the call for robust counter-terrorism (CT) measures through policy and legislation, intelligence-sharing, and military and law enforcement cooperation. As a strategic ally, the United States (US) has renewed political and security relations with Manila, strained since the base closures in 1991; Washington has given hundreds of millions of dollars in military and economic aid since 9/11. However, instead of improving the country's CT capabilities to eradicate terrorism, the GWOT and related US policy have created a cyclical incentive structure: certain actors within the government, military, and insurgency groups in the Philippines profit politically and financially from US aid and the warlike conditions, and thus sustain, at a minimum, a presence of conflict and terrorism in order to continue drawing future benefits. This paper will investigate how such actors profit from the GWOT and perpetuate conflict, as well as examine the implications of these finding and recommendations on future US policy and Philippine counter-terrorism efforts.Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA is the author of 'Is the Philippines Profiting from the War on Terrorism?', published 2004 under ISBN 9781423518853 and ISBN 1423518853.