Filipino peacekeeper hurt in East Timor violence

A Filipino policeman was wounded after renegade soldiers opened fire on unarmed policemen at their headquarters in the East Timor capital of Dili on Thursday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

Quoting a report from the Philippine Embassy in Dili, the DFA identified the wounded policeman as Chief Inspector Edgar Layon, 45, one of five Philippine National Police (PNP) officers serving as advisers with the United Nations Office in Timor-Leste (UNOTIL).

In her report, Ambassador to Dili Farita Aguilucho-Ong said Layon, of Sta. Mesa, Manila was shot in the abdomen, but is now stable and out of danger.

He was airlifted to Darwin, Australia the other night for medical treatment, along with another UN officer who was also wounded in the incident, she added.

Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations Lauro Baja said the Philippine mission had formally informed Layon’s wife, Rochelle, on her husband’s condition on Thursday night.

An officer from the Armed Forces of the Philippines is also serving in UNOTIL as a military adviser.

The violence on Thursday was described as the deadliest encounter between renegade troops and government forces since March when unrest gripped the country following the government’s decision to fire 40 percent of the country’s militarymen who went on strike to protest alleged discrimination.

The Philippine mission said the Dili attack is the first violent incident affecting Filipino police officers serving in the UN since 2004 when the quarters of some members of the Philippine police contingent in Kosovo were torched during inter-ethnic riots in the UN-administered territory.

The shooting on Thursday is also the second violent incident involving Filipino peacekeepers following the death last year of S/Sgt. Antonio Batomalaque who was killed in action in Haiti.

The Philippines is the top contributor to UN peacekeeping operations among member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

A total of 199 police officers are serving in UN missions in Afghanistan, Cote d’Ivoire, Haiti, Kosovo, Liberia, Sudan and Timor Leste.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo instructed Ambassador Roy Cimatu, head of the Middle East Preparedness Team, to proceed to Dili to assess the security situation there and to review the evacuation plans formulated by the Philippine Embassy for its staff and for the Filipinos in East Timor.

"I have alerted National Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr. on the recommendation of our embassy in Dili, to make available on standby an Air Force C-130 transport aircraft to evacuate around 200 Filipinos in Dili if the need arises," he said.

The government will undertake measures to ensure the safety of Filipinos in East Timor in light of the deteriorating security situation in Dili, he added.

Ong said in her report that a briefing for the diplomatic corps was given by East Timor Senior Minister and Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta who expressed serious concern over the prospects for peace and reconciliation.

President Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao announced that the East Timorese government had accepted the offer of bilateral police/military assistance offered by Australia, Portugal, New Zealand and Malaysia, she added.

Embassy records showed there were around 200 Filipinos in East Timor as of December 2005.

The overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are composed of a six-member peacekeeping force (one military observer and five civilian police), lawyers, educators, trainers, engineers, technical personnel, advisers, accountants, construction workers, religious missionaries, hotel personnel, housewives married to Timorese and domestic workers working for UN personnel.