MANILA, Philippines -- Did US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton succeed in changing negative views about the United States during her two-day visit to Manila last week?

?A big no,? according to militant groups like the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, or ACT.

Antonio Tinio, chair of the 40,000-strong ACT, said Clinton was here to promote US foreign policy and push the "US agenda in regional security and free trade.?

Tinio brushed aside the $19-million typhoon relief aid given by Washington to Manila, saying it ?reinforced the culture of dependency on the US which hinders us from developing self-reliance.?

According to Time magazine, one of three qualities that could make Clinton a memorable Secretary of State was her ability to change negative attitudes about the US abroad, being an international celebrity with a much higher profile than any of her recent predecessors.

It also cited her vision of departmental reform and her ability to better understand and interact with foreign politicians.

But the Teachers' Dignity Coalition said that while they appreciated US help for the typhoon victims, Filipinos should view the aid as part of US diplomacy to push its own vested interests.

"The US could not conceal its real interests behind the aid... The US will always be the US, an empire protective of its interests," said TDC chair Benjo Basas.

Alvin Peters, president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines, went as far as describing Clinton?s visit as "a loyalty check by a master to one of its vassals.?

?For as long as the Philippine government remains subservient to US political and economic interests, promises of relief aid can never be viewed in the positive light,? Peters said.

League of Filipino Students chairman Terry Ridon said Clinton should have taken Mindanao-based American troops with her when she left the country last Friday. The American troops have been in Mindanao, doing humanitarian work and giving intelligence assistance to the Philippine military under the Visiting Forces Agreement.

The LFS leader dismissed as a ?mere publicity stunt? Clinton's visit to the flood-devastated Malanday National High School in Marikina, where she pledged an additional $5-million relief package on top of the $14 million in assistance given in the wake of back-to-back storms that struck the country recently.

Ridon also branded as a ?sham? the Manila Forum, last Friday's televised dialogue between Clinton and students at the University of Sto. Tomas in Manila.

During the forum, ?the difficult questions on the VFA and the Arroyo government's human rights record were not asked due to screened and censored questions,? said Ridon who was part of the University of the Philippines contingent.

?We were used by the US Embassy as we sat there merely as muted audience members. The questions had been selected beforehand perhaps in order not to embarrass Secretary Clinton,? he lamented.

The Manila forum was the exact opposite of Clinton's recent Pakistan sortie where, according to Time, the US Secretary of State ?allowed herself to be hammered with hostile questions from students, talk show hosts and Pashtun elders.?

Clinton reportedly ?got pummeled? but ?showed her candor and her willingness to listen to and acknowledge criticism.?

During the UST forum, Ridon had ?wanted to read an open letter by Filipino students to President Barack Obama, challenging the White House to make true its promise of hope and change by abandoning the VFA and holding the Arroyo government accountable for its human rights record.?

Marisse Bernardine Banez, UP student regent, said ?if the Obama administration does not heed the people's call for the scrapping of the VFA, then it just proves it is no different from the Bush administration.?

Anakbayan chair Ken Ramos said the Arroyo administration ?cannot muffle the people's protests? against the VFA.

Anakbayan, LFS, NUSP, ACT and TDC led the protest rallies during Clinton's visit. which Washington said aimed to ?show solidarity with our friends in the Philippines who have been battered by typhoons.?

Clinton had ?expressed solidarity with the Filipino people and confirmed the continued assistance of the US government not just in relief but also in rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts,? Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said in a statement.