Survey team to lead RP mission in Iraq

A reconnaissance team will lead the 175-member Filipino peacekeeping and humanitarian mission to Iraq.

Armed Forces vice chief and spokesman Lt. Gen. Rodolfo Garcia said the Philippine Humanitarian Contingent to Iraq (PHCI) will be under the multinational division, to be supervised by the Polish armed forces, which will be deployed in south central Iraq.

Prior to the full deployment of the humanitarian and peacekeeping contingents, a survey of the deployment area will be first conducted by the troop-contributing nations, which include the Philippines, Garcia said.

Last night, the survey team from the PHCI left for Kuwait from where they would enter Iraq.

Garcia said the survey team will conduct an area inspection and fly home on July 17.

The team will be led by Brig. Gen. Pedro Ramboanga, commander of the Army’s 102nd Brigade and formerly the Philippine defense attaché to the United States.

"Well, he (Ramboanga) has both experience in combat and he understands diplomacy, having been our defense attaché for three years. He knows diplomacy which is very important in this particular posting, and he is an intelligence and an operations man," Garcia said.

Other members of the survey team are Army Col. Joel Ibañez, PCHI battalion commander; Army Maj. Ramon Yogyog, PHCI operations officer; Navy Lt. Ferdinand Buscato, PCHI logistics officer; and police representative Senior Superintendent Samson Tucay.

Each member of the mission will get an allowance of US$500 or roughly about $17 a day.

Garcia said 75 from the contingent will be coming from the PNP and the AFP. The rest of the mission will be mostly medical staff and social workers.

The Philippine contingent will be primarily deployed to an area south of Baghdad and north of Basra, which according to Garcia, is safe enough.

Following the planned schedule, the major bulk of the Filipino humanitarian and peacekeeping mission will be sent to Kuwait on Aug. 11. The members of the mission will then be in south central Iraq by Aug. 14.

Garcia said that for two weeks after Aug. 14, the Filipino team, along with other contingents from other countries, will undergo an orientation under the US Central Command.

By Sept. 1, the multinational division under Polish supervision would then be operational to relieve American troops as a peacekeeping force.