Phl quick response team readied

MANILA, Philippines - The government will reactivate its rapid response team in South Korea should the need arise for evacuation of Filipinos as tensions rose further in the region with Pyongyang’s reported positioning of medium range missiles and troops near the border with its neighbor.

This was revealed by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin in an interview with The STAR on the sidelines of the official opening of this year’s Philippine-US Balikatan exercise held at Camp Aguinaldo yesterday. Gazmin clarified, however, that the reactivation of the rapid response team will be handled by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

He said the Philippines first activated a rapid response team in South Korea three years ago after a North Korean shelling of a South Korean island. The attack triggered a heavy exchange of artillery fire between the two forces.

There are more than 40,000 Filipinos in the Korean peninsula.

Gazmin said that while doubts have been raised on North Korea’s readiness to engage South Korea in a full-scale battle, he said there should be no room for complacency on the part of the Philippines.

Two of the three C-130 cargo planes of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) as well as five vessels from the Philippine Navy and the Coast Guard are on standby for possible deployment to South Korea to evacuate Filipinos.

In Santa Cruz, Laguna, President Aquino emphasized that the government is prepared for any eventuality in South Korea. The President was in Laguna with administration senatorial candidates.

“We are checking the plans that will ensure the assumptions are still valid, and that all of these are intact when the need to implement arises. I have to emphasize: if the need arises,” he told Palace reporters.

The Chief Executive reiterated that at this point, no evacuation is necessary. He said North Korea’s war rhetoric may have been Pyongyang’s way of distracting the attention of the public from “internal problems.”  

Nonetheless, he said he had instructed Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario to coordinate with the diplomatic community and with other countries regarding the possible evacuation of Filipinos.

Part of the instructions to Del Rosario, Aquino said, was for the DFA chief to have the “intelligence services assess whether or not the threat is real and how bad it is.”

The other instruction, he said, is “to dust up all of the plans that were already in place as early as two years ago.”

“And to that end, Secretary Del Rosario is consulting with our ambassador in Korea and he is set to leave tomorrow (today) to be hands on and see for himself the preparations,” Aquino said.

“But as of now, we have not received any information that says there is an imminent threat that needs immediate evacuation of our countrymen there,” he pointed out.

“I’m reasonably confident that Filipino community organizations are working hand-in-hand with the embassy, and will be able to organize our countrymen in the event that there is a need to evacuate them,” Aquino stressed. “And we are talking with other countries also to assist us in this effort.”

Helping US

For Del Rosario, it’s an obligation of the Philippines to help the US in case the latter is dragged into a full-fledged armed confrontation with North Korea.

Del Rosario made the statement when asked if it would be alright for the Philippines to give US forces access to its bases in the event of a war with North Korea.

“I think as treaty allies, if there is an attack, we should help one another, which is what the treaty alliance is all about,” Del Rosario told reporters at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City yesterday. He was apparently referring to the Mutual Defense Treaty between the two countries signed in 1951.

“I think we are all concerned about the actions of North Korea,” Del Rosario said. “We have our own contingency plans that we’re working on.”

Through the Mutual Defense Treaty, the Philippines and the US sought “to declare publicly and formally their sense of unity and their common determination to defend themselves against external armed attack.”

The treaty also aims to “to strengthen their present efforts for collective defense for the preservation of peace and security.”

US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr., meanwhile, said Washington is committed to helping resolve the Korean crisis peacefully.

“We are committed to peace. Clearly, you have seen that since President (Barack) Obama has taken office, he has worked with allies for consensus,” Thomas said.

He noted that more than 80 countries have agreed to the latest United Nations Security Council resolution condemning North Korea for its nuclear tests.

Youth fest to continue

Despite the growing tension in the Korean Peninsula, there is no announcement of cancellation of preparations for the 6th Asian Youth Day (AYD) to be held next year in South Korea, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said yesterday.

CBCPNews quoted CBCP-Episcopal Commission on Youth (ECY) executive secretary Fr. Conegundo Garganta as saying that AYD organizers have not announced any cancellation or postponement of the event even after North Korea declared that it has entered a “state of war” with South Korea.

The AYD is slated on Aug. 10-20, 2014 in Daejeon, South Korea. The ECY organizes Filipino delegates and communicates directly to AYD organizers under the Diocese of Daejeon. Application to the AYD will be open before 2013 ends.

During the third AYD preparatory meeting on March 11 to 15, the Diocese of Daejeon and the Youth Desk of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) met with representatives of youth commissions throughout the continent, including the ECY.

“The latest meeting was about finalizing the schedule and flow of program for the Days in the Diocese, actual AYD, and the Asian Youth Ministers meeting thereafter,” Garganta said.

Garganta also said that the AYD would be different from the World Youth Day (WYD).

“Though it looks like the WYD, the AYD is different. Even the mechanics for AYD set limitations in the number of delegates that each country can send to the AYD, unlike the WYD which is open to all,” he said. “The number of people joining the AYD will be dependent on the country’s Catholic population.”

Meanwhile, many Koreans in the Philippines said they don’t expect their countrymen to leave their country en masse for fear of war.

“My daughter and grandchildren are there and I called them up yesterday. They assured me all is normal and peaceful there,” Joshua Yoon Soo-cho, adviser to the Korean Association of Angeles City, told The STAR.

Richie Nacpil, Clark International Airport operations chief, said he checked with the records of Jin Air and Asiana airlines and found no unusual increase in the number of inbound passengers from South Korea. – With Alexis Romero, Evelyn Macairan, Ding Cervantes, Jose Rodel Clapano, Delon Porcalla