US should reconsider military aid to the Philippines—Church leader

The United States should consider cutting military aid to the Philippines, a senior Catholic leader said, as he pointed out that Washington may be indirectly contributing to increasing cases of extra-judicial killings in the country.

"The US government must reconsider its financial support for a military that is accused of violating human rights in the name of war on terror," Archbishop Angel Lagdameo of the Archdiocese of Jaro in Central Philippines said.

Lagdameo, former president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, instead wants the administration of President Barrack Obama to strongly denounce the extrajudicial killings in the Philippines since 2001.

Lagdameo issued the statement yesterday, on the eve of the International Human Rights Day on December 10.

He said the United States' silence over the issue could be misinterpreted by the Manila-based government that it is condoning acts of human rights violations by state forces such as the police and the military.