Ex-deputy NATO chief in Manila for goodwill visit, meets with Ermita

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita met yesterday at Malacañang former Supreme Deputy Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Sir Rupert Smith, who is on a three-day goodwill visit to the Philippines.

Smith, a retired British general, is adviser to the Henry Dunant Center for Humanitarian Dialogue (CHD), a Switzerland-based organization that is helping victims of conflict around the world, including those in Mindanao.

The Office of the Executive Secretary and the CHD are co-sponsoring the visit of Smith to meet with the civil society groups in the provinces of Zamboanga and Sulu.

Smith was accompanied to the palace by CHD board member Ambassador Narcisa Escaler, CHD mediation adviser David Gorman, CHD adviser Alberto Kimpo, and CHD executive secretary Anna Cristina Villongco.

After the courtesy call, Smith met government internal security policy-makers at the National Defense College of the Philippines in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

He said conflicts in recent times cannot be resolved by military might alone but by a package of solutions that include security and political reforms and dialogues.

Smith will meet Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. in Zamboanga City today before meeting local officials of Sulu.

Smith will meet with the Peace Working Group and the leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front in Sulu.

One of Britain’s most brilliant operational commanders of recent times, Smith wrote the book, "The Utility of Force," which cited that military force alone is not working and failing to solve the problems and conflicts across the world.

Smith, who retired from the British Army in 2002, was appointed as deputy Supreme Commander Allied Powers Europe from 1998-2001, covering NATO’s Balkan operations, including the Kosovo bombing and the development of the European Defense and Security Identity.