RP awaits final UN action on Iraq

President Arroyo will convene the National Security Council (NSC) to discuss the Philippines’ stand on the looming war in Iraq only when the government gets "critical mass information" from the two United Nations arms inspectors sent to Iraq.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople said his department recommended this action during yesterday’s meeting of the Cabinet Oversight Committee on Internal Security (COCIS) at Malacañang.

"(Any) sound and responsible decision of the NSC... (will be on hold) until we have more critical mass information from (the United Nations Security Council)," he said. "On this ground we recommended to the COCIS to ask the President not to convene yet the NSC."

Speaking to reporters after the three-hour COCIS meeting, Ople said Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo, who chairs the COCIS, will transmit their recommendation to Mrs. Arroyo who was not present at the meeting.

Ople said foreign affairs officials noted the report to the UN Security Council by arms inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei was "not very categorical" about their findings on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

"At the same time, the (Blix-ElBaradei) report left unanswered what happened to the 100,000 tons of nerve gas that the UN view exist in Iraq as far back as 1998 and the several tons of anthrax," he said.

"There has been no accounting of these lethal WMDs and so the Blix-ElBaradei report left some questions hanging."

Ople said Blix and ElBaradei would like to continue searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq so these could be destroyed.

Asked if Mrs. Arroyo would approve the DFA’s recommendation, Ople said: "My guess is the President would listen to this advice."

Ople said he has ordered chargé d’affaires Grace Escalante and another diplomat to remain at the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad and monitor developments.

Quoting Escalante, Ople said the Iraqi government had "registered strong opposition" to the expulsion of Iraqi Embassy Second Secretary Husham Hussain.

There are "no signs" that Iraq would retaliate, he added.

But ousted President Joseph Estrada said yesterday the government should not have volunteered to the United States the use of the country’s territory or air space, as Mrs. Arroyo had already done, even before a "specific request" has been made.

"Whatever we do in this conflict, it should be according to our laws, our international commitments, our highest national interests, and with the support of the majority of our people," he said.

In a statement, Estrada said the "first duty" of the Philippines, as a staunch American ally, is to make sure that any US action on Iraq will have the full authority of the United Nations Security Council, which has sent back its inspectors to Iraq to track down weapons of mass destruction.

"If Saddam Hussein refuses to disarm even after the inspectors shall have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, then we should support a US-led action against Saddam," read the statement.

"But we should await, not anticipate the appropriate resolutions from the Security Council. We should never rush into war."

As a UN member, the Philippines must do its share in any collective undertaking, but the contribution should be within the country’s limited capacity, subject to a "specific request" from the world body, Estrada added.

Loans for OFWs

Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who will be displaced by a US attack on Iraq will be given a government loan to allow them to start a business upon their return home.

Administrator Virgilio Angelo of the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA) said yesterday OFWs returning from the Middle East can borrow P5,000 from the agency to put up their capital.

However, Angelo said they expect few OFWs to avail of the loan program because most of them would rather stay on their jobs despite the threat of war.

Angelo had just returned from a trip to seven countries in the Middle East.

Don’t be alarmed, PNP tells public

Chief Superintendent Vidal Querol, director for operations of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said yesterday the public should not be alarmed over the crisis in the Middle East.

"We expect that the conflict in Iraq, if there will be a conflict at all, will be limited within the borders or Iraq," he said. "And it is the responsibility of our allied operational commanders to see to it that the conflict, if ever there would be, will not be such kind as a runaway war."

Querol said a US-Iraq war would not affect the country’s economy and that the PNP and the Armed Forces are prepared for any "worst-case scenario" or eventuality.

"There is no cause for alarm," he said. "Our security forces, both the PNP and the AFP, have contingency plans for the worst-case scenario but then I tell you, there should be no cause for alarm."

Querol said any war in Iraq would not spill over the Philippines as the Middle East country is 9,000 miles or "a half-a-world" away from the country’s shores.

"Iraq has no delivery system that could reach the Philippines," he said.

The US will ensure that any war would be limited within the borders of Iraq, he added.

‘Saddam’s men out to kill me’

A visiting Iraqi nuclear chemist, who was tortured in an Iraqi prison, said yesterday Saddam’s agents or "sleeping cells" in London have been trying to kill him for the past 10 years.

Dr. Hussain Shahrastani told The STAR yesterday he was thrown in jail for 11 years after he refused to produce weapons of mass destruction for Saddam.

"Saddam is not a run-of-the-mill dictator," he said. "He has security operatives all over Iraq and ‘sleeping cells’ in various countries, mostly Eastern Europe."

The London-based Shahrastani said Saddam used "sleeping cells" or secret military agents to sow terror in Iraq and other countries where anti-Saddam exiles live.

He escaped from prison in Iraq in 1991 at the height of Operation Desert Storm when US forces drove Iraqi troops from Kuwait and bombed strategic points in the country, he added.

Shahrastani spoke yesterday before businessmen, members of academe and the intelligence community at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati.

Shahrastani said he hopes the Philippines will continue to support the international effort to remove Saddam from power.

"But I believe the Philippine support with the international community should try to help the Iraqi people get rid of this Iraqi regime of Saddam as long as any force used to change the regime would not cause so much civilian casualties and heavy infrastructure damages in Iraq," he said.

"Because directly or indirectly, it would affect your over 1.7 million Filipino workers in the Middle East and it’s also in the interest of the Philippines to play an active role to ensure transfer of democracy back to Iraq."

Shahrastani, who arrived Sunday night, will leave for London tomorrow night.

US must respect UN order–Pichay

Rep. Prospero Pichay called yesterday on the US to respect the UN resolution for a peaceful end to the Iraqi crisis.

Pichay, chairman of House national defense committee, said the world body should be abolished if the US would not respect its decision.

Pichay said the US should present strong evidence to show that Iraq is keeping biological and nuclear weapons.

A war in Iraq would have a devastating effect on the world’s economy, he added.

On the other hand, Rep. Apolinario Lozada, chairman of the House foreign relations committee, said the government should heed the people’s call not to support any war against Iraq.

"The world has spoken," he said. "It is against aggression. The Philippines cannot go wrong if it took a stand on the issue based on the voice of the people," he said. – Marichu Villanueva, Mayen Jaymalin, Christina Mendez, Paolo Romero, Romel Bagares