US won’t extend Saddam’s March 17 deadline

The United States will not extend its March 17 deadline for Iraq to disarm, US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone said yesterday.

"I think what the US is determined to do is to disarm Saddam Hussein in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1441," Ricciardone said. "That has got to happen or the UN will simply not have any more credibility."

After meeting with Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople yesterday morning, Ricciardone told reporters "time is running out" for Saddam to destroy his weapons of mass destruction as required under international law.

Meanwhile, officials said the Philippine embassy in Baghdad will remain open even after US-led troops attack Iraq.

Reynaldo Parungao, deputy head of the Presidential Middle East Preparedness Team (PMEPT), said Dr. Cotawato Arimao, the administrative officer, would run the embassy after chargé d’affaires Grace Escalante evacuates to Amman, Jordan tomorrow.

"There was a senior staff meeting of the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) presided over by Secretary Ople," Parungao said. "Ople issued an advice to the body to keep the embassy open. Instead of evacuating all the personnel of the Philippine embassy in Iraq, Secretary Ople directed Ambassador Escalante to choose men that would render reports until the advice is preceded."

Arimao would be accompanied by the embassy translator, liaison officer and a utility man, all of them Iraqis, Parungao said.

Retired Gen. Roy Cimatu, PMEPT head, said 15 Filipino civilians remain in Baghdad. Five are married to Iraqis while the other 10 are children.

Cimatu said also somewhere in Iraq are 20 Filipino military officers, led by Lt. Col. Gregorio Cayetano, who belong to the United Nations guard contingent.

"There are also 617 UN workers in Iraq," he said. "Most of the Filipinos left Baghdad last Feb. 10. Starting Thursday, there will be a few days’ holiday in Iraq."

Ricciardone also said the US travel advisory over the weekend was not intended to prevent Americans from going to the Philippines.

"The advisory does not ban American travel to the Philippines," he said. "We asked them to defer travel, put off until later the travel to Mindanao in light of the recent events that occurred there."

Ricciardone said Filipinos and the Philippine government do not have to get "anxious" about the latest US travel advisory as it is not an issue.

"There’s a new travel information statement, a travel advisory," he said. "It is not an issue this time. I’m glad to observe. Facts are facts. Let’s not get anxious about all these things."

Ricciardone said he thanked Ople for what he had written in his newspaper column last Sunday, which clearly shows where the Philippines stands.

"It is absolutely morally clear and it’s clear where your country stands, where Secretary Ople stands," he said. "This is the time I think for decision. There’s no ambiguity, there’s right and there’s wrong, there isn’t something called neutral."

Ricciardone also lauded the Arroyo administration for calling on Saddam to disarm to prevent war from breaking out.

"I believe the support of the Republic of the Philippines for disarmament of Iraq and for Saddam Hussein to do what he is supposed to do," he said.

"The United Nations is very clear and it is very meaningful and if in the end of the day we are able to avoid war, it will be thanks to the Philippines for calling on Saddam Hussein to do what he’s supposed to do."

In his newspaper column last Sunday, Ople said the Philippine government will support the US in disarming Iraq without sending combat troops to that Middle East country.

The Philippines would dispatch doctors, nurses, other medical workers and peacekeepers outside Iraq in case of war, he added.

Meanwhile, at least 200 overseas Filipino workers are returning home from the Middle East and 6,000 are awaiting evacuation because of impeding war between the US and Iraq.

The Department of Labor and Employment reported yesterday the papers of 200 overstaying workers are being processed so they could immediately be repatriated.

"Our labor office in Kuwait is now negotiating with the Kuwaiti government for the immediate repatriation of the stranded OFWs and we are hoping they could go home as soon as possible," said Nicon Fumaranog, chief of the DOLE’s information public service.

The 200 were repatriated upon the recommendation of Cimatu, he added.

Fumaranog said Filipino workers near the Kuwaiti-Iraqi border are also ready to be evacuated to a safer place inside Kuwait.

"The OFWs are ready for relocation in Nuwalsib, Kuwait, where the Philippine government has long rented a building to accommodate 6,000 OFWs likely to be affected by the war," he said.

The Filipinos could also be taken to Al Khaffji in Saudi Arabia or Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, he added.

However, Fumaranog said the 6,000 OFWs in Kuwait could be repatriated if the war escalates.