BY REGINA BENGCO
AFTER failing to get hold of US
president-elect Barack Obama over the phone, Malacañang
yesterday said a meeting with Obama is not in the agenda of
President Arroyo when she is in New York Nov. 12 to 13.
Arroyo will be attending the UN General
Assembly on interfaith dialogues. Executive Secretary Eduardo
Ermita earlier said a possible meeting with Obama was high in
Arroyo’s agenda.
"There is no such plan in the first place,"
Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said in a radio interview. He said
Obama will assume the US presidency in January and that Arroyo
has a "different intention" in going to the US.
Dureza said Obama’s non-availability when
Arroyo called up Wednesday was no big deal. "He will assume
office on January 20 so we understand but I must emphasize, wala
sa plano para sa UN event yung GMA-Obama meet," he said.
He said there is a proper time and forum for
such a meeting.
US Ambassador Kristie Ann Kenney said in a
radio interview that Obama is not looking to meet with foreign
leaders during the UN meet because he is busy assembling his
Cabinet and going through the transition period before his
assumption of office.
Kenney said when she briefed Arroyo on the
results of the US elections Wednesday, she told her the US is
not accepting any requests for meetings with Obama.
Kenney also said there will be no withdrawal
of US troops from the Philippines under an Obama presidency. She
said Obama was a member of the Senate committee that authorized
US troops in the Philippines.
She said it is the Armed Forces of the Philippines which
determines how US troops are to be "deployed" in the country.
