THE visit of United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Philippines on November 12-13 has a deeper agenda than merely visiting flood victims in the country.

This was the opinion made by Muntinlupa Representative Rozzano Rufino Biazon in an interview during his visit here in Davao City Wednesday.

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Biazon said the United States has greater interest in the Philippines than mere humanitarian.

He recalled that when Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) boss Leon Panetta visited the Philippines in July of this year, kidnapped International Red Cross worker and Italian engineer Eugenio Vagni was also released on the very day of Panetta's visit.

True enough, a day after the interview and on the same day Clinton is to arrive in the country, kidnapped Irish priest Fr. Michael Sinnott was released after one month in captivity.

Biazon said the recent visits of top US officials in the Philippines are indication that America has great interest in the country and in the Asian region. He said the Philippines is very strategic in the US interest in Asia Pacific.

Biazon hinted that the US interest could have something to do with the natural resources in the region. He said America's thrust is to use up the resources of other countries first before they use their own natural resources.

Considering that the Philippines is rich in natural resources Biazon said, this could be the reason why the US interest in the country remains high. He said that the coming May 2010 elections could also be another point of interest of the US in the Philippines.

Militant Moro organization Suara Bangsamoro meanwhile joined in the protest and raised question as to the real agenda of the state visit.

Amirah Ali Lidasan, spokesperson of Suara Bangsamoro, is calling for Secretary Clinton to keep her hands off Mindanao and bring home with her the 600 US soldiers permanently deployed in Mindanao.

Lidasan believes that Clinton's visit will gloss over the Moro people’s protest against the violations that the US troops has committed against the Moro people in Sulu, Basilan, Zamboanga, Lanao and Maguindanao.

As evidenced by the death of the two US soldiers in Sulu last October 2009 and the testimony of Navy Lt. Nancy Gadian, US soldiers have been actively directing and leading combat operations of Filipino soldiers in Mindanao that has resulted to the displacement of the residents and has endangered the lives of the civilians in areas targeted as Abu Sayyaf havens, the recent incident of which happened during an AFP operation in Indanan, Sulu that has resulted to the bombing of a mosque and displacement and wounding of civilians.

Lidasan further believes that Clinton's visit will only continue to bolster the government's anti-terror measures that have violated the civil and political rights of Moro civilians in Mindanao.

If the US military aid continues, the Philippine Government will continue to arrest civilians without warrants, vilify religious leaders and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Moro National Liberation Front through their Rewards for Justice Program and incessant accusations that, as per intelligence reports, the MILF and MNLF are harboring Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiya terrorists.

Contrary to Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao regional executive secretary Oscar Sampulna's statement, the Moro people have nothing to be "grateful" to Secretary Clinton and her government for the implementation of projects by the US Agency for International Development (USAid), as this was done with strings attached such as conditioning the people that the US soldiers are here to stay and along with it is the establishment of permanent structures for their stay.

Lidasan said Moro people are better off without Secretary Clinton and its government dabbling into the peace process and should instead expose the real political and economic interest of the US Government in Mindanao as evidenced by the recent signing of Exxon-Mobil for the exploration of oil deposits in Sulu. (BOT)