The United States will forever be an ally of the Philippines and it would never support any move to change the government through any other means other than what was prescribed in the Constitution, US Ambassador Kristie Kenney said on Tuesday.

The ambassador, who turned over seven utility boats and two Boston whalers to the Navy on Tuesday, said that the US will remain a supporter of the country and would not support any violent effort to change its government.

Kenney admitted that at the height of the rebellion, she spoke several times to government officials, including President Arroyo, reassuring that the US was a “strong ally and partner.”

“We do not support extra-constitutional means to change the government in the Philippines, or anywhere else in the world,” she said, adding that the US and the country would remain “friends for life.”

Kenney’s statement was in relation to the takeover of the Peninsula Hotel by Magdalo soldiers, led by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Army Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, after they walked out from their court hearing in Makati City.

Kenney praised the way the police and the military handled the incident, especially that no one among the soldiers and even the civilians were killed.

“I thought the way the situation was resolved safely, quickly, with great professionalism exhibited by the Philippine police [and] the Philippine Armed Forces,” she said.

But she added she was disturbed to see people violating the law and misbehaving against the government, especially when they are destroying businesses like the Peninsula Hotel, which resumed its normal operations on Monday.

The Navy said that the boats it received from the US for the Armed Forces of the Philippines capability upgrade program would be used to transport personnel, utility operations and supply transport.

MAKATI Mayor and United Opposition (Uno) president Jejomar Binay said Tuesday the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) should instead investigate Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, after the latter admitted receiving advance intelligence reports about the walkout at the Makati court and the takeover of Manila Peninsula by the group led by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Troops from the military’s Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) joined in the manhunt for the recapture of fugitive Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon, who slipped from a police cordon at the height of the siege of Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City, the country’s business capital.

DETAINED Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV may finally get his wish to attend a Senate hearing, thanks to fellow Sen. Miriam Santiago who introduced a resolution asking the ethics committee to “punish” the failed Oakwood mutiny leader for instigating another attempted uprising at the Peninsula Manila Hotel in Makati last Thursday.

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) still has over two years before the next electoral exercise, but it should now start cleansing the padded voters’ list of at least two million double registrations, according to Sen. Loren Legarda.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—The League of Cities in the Philippines (LCP) has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to look into the legality of the formation of 16 new cities throughout the country.

IT’S a double whammy for lawyer Roel Pulido.

Less than two weeks after the House justice committee laid to rest Pulido’s impeachment complaint against President Arroyo, the House ethics committee junked his other complaint against Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. in connection with his alleged role in the approval of a franchise of a broadband company owned by his son, Jose III.

THE banks may go beyond the permissible limit—50 percent with government debt papers—that a portion of their capital may be backed by peso-denominated IOUs of government. There is, however, a condition.

The United States will forever be an ally of the Philippines and it would never support any move to change the government through any other means other than what was prescribed in the Constitution, US Ambassador Kristie Kenney said on Tuesday.