RP peacekeepers to start leaving for Iraq next week

Just like other members of the "coalition of the willing" who are preparing to tackle their roles in post-war Iraq, the country will start sending batches of its 500-man humanitarian and peacekeeping mission to Iraq starting next week, President Arroyo announced yesterday.

The President made the announcement as she appointed business executive Jose Ibazeta as the new ambassador to Baghdad, a post that has been vacant for almost two years.

She also ordered the creation of two task forces to supervise the deployment of the humanitarian and peacekeeping mission and coordinate the hiring of Filipino workers in the reconstruction of the country.

Mrs. Arroyo also announced that Filipino Muslims would get the first crack at the estimated 100,000 new jobs in Iraq that are expected to be made available to Filipino workers soon.

"Next week, we shall begin sending a humanitarian and peacekeeping contingent to Iraq," she told graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy at Camp General Mariano Castañeda in Silang, Cavite.

"We mourn the loss of lives and the destruction of property. Those of us who supported the cause have an even greater stake in ensuring that the losses and sacrifices were not in vain," she said.

"Now that the Iraqi people have been freed from the yoke of tyranny and oppression, the world must come together and help them enjoy the fruits of freedom and democracy," she added.

She also dismissed criticism that jobs for Filipinos in Iraq were a payoff for supporting the war, saying: "Our support for democracy is based on principle. It is not based on anticipation of any material reward."

The President also announced the appointment of Ibazeta, who replaces Reynaldo Parungao, the country’s ambassador to Iraq two years ago.

New envoy to Iraq

The country’s mission in Baghdad used to be headed only by chargé d’affaires Grace Escalante until its operations were downgraded at the outbreak of the war.

Ibazeta, 62, is chairman of Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. and consultant to the A. Soriano Corp. (Anscor) which he also served as president and chief operating officer from 1990 to 1998. He is also a director of the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI).

He was a former president of the Alabang Country Club and a member of the Makati Business Club and Management Association of the Philippines.

Ibazeta holds an economics degree from the Ateneo de Manila University (1968) and an MBA from the University of San Francisco (1968). He also holds a master’s degree in banking and finance from New York University (1976).

Ibazeta, along with Ambassador to Kuwait, Bayani Mangibin, was also named to the presidential task force for the supervision of the 500-man humanitarian and peacekeeping team that the country is expected to deploy.

Gov’t task forces

The inter-agency task force is to be co-chaired by Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople and Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes. Special presidential envoy Roy Cimatu, head of the government’s Middle East Preparedness Team, will be the task force’s executive director.

Other members of the task force are Interior Secretary Jose Lina, Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman, Armed Forces chief Gen. Narciso Abaya, Philippine National Police chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., Office of Muslim Affairs chief Zamzamin Ampatuan, Mangibin and Ibazeta.

Ople, for his part, said the Iraqi ambassador-designate and his staff in Manila denied that he ordered DFA personnel to "cease all contacts" with Iraqi diplomats until a new government is installed in Iraq.

"We have not ceased to recognize the diplomatic character of the Iraqi embassy or its officials. They continue to enjoy the privileges and immunities accorded to them under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, until we receive contrary information from their new government," Ople said.

Although Baghdad sent Ghazi Faisal Hussein as new ambassador to Manila shortly before the outbreak of the war, he was not able to present his credentials to Mrs. Arroyo and will have to be wait for new credentials from the new Iraqi government before he is accredited by the DFA, which communicates with Iraqi chargé d’affaires Samir Bolus. – With reports from Perseus Echeminada, Mayen Jaymalin