AFP insists Filipino peacekeepers ordered to surrender

FORT MAGSAYSAY, Nueva Ecija - The military insists that the Filipino peacekeepers in Golan Heights were ordered to surrender to Syrian rebels after the United Nations (UN) denied issuing such directive.

"Based on our report, that was what happened. We won't  make such decision if it wasn't ordered," Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Gregorio Catapang Jr. told reporters here when asked whether they stand by their claim that Filipino troops were instructed to surrender.

Catapang was asked to react to a statement by UN Undersecretary for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous, who denied that UN Disengagement Observer Force chief Lt. Gen. Iqbal Singh Singha had instructed the Filipino soldiers to give their firearms to rebels.

"They were never under such specific orders," Ladsous said in a press briefing in New York last Wednesday. 

Ladsous believes Singha has exercised "good sound judgment" during the standoff.

Catapang said they won't be issuing rebuttals to the UN official's statement.

"We will just submit the report and it is up to higher headquarters to decide. We don't want this to be a blame game," Catapang said.

"Our problem is over and I think it's now up to the Department of Foreign Affairs to answer all the queries," he added.

Catapang said he was not surprised by Singha's denial.

"I was not surprised that's why I was asking him (Singha) to put it in black and white," he said, referring to the UNDOF chief's alleged order for Filipino troops to surrender.

"He is ordering something that we feel is not authorized."

Catapang clarified that they are only questioning Singha's decision and not the UN's system.

He said they would continue to stand with Col. James  Enriquez, the Filipino UNDOF Chief of Staff who defied Singha's order. Enriquez has offered to resign but Singha just placed him on leave.

Last Sunday, 75 Filipino peacekeepers managed to escape from Syrian rebels who surrounded them and demanded that they surrender their firearms.

Before the standoff, Syrian militants held hostage 45 Fijian peacekeepers and seized their firearms.

The Fijian troops are still being held by Al-Nusra Front, a group with links to terrorist group Al-Qaeda.