MANILA, Philippines?Carolina Hernandez, professor emeritus at the University of the Philippines, has been named chair of the United Nations Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters which advises the UN Secretary General on matters involving global security, nuclear arms and energy.

Hernandez, who first joined the UN Advisory Board in January 2006 at the invitation of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, was informed of her appointment as chair of the 20-member international advisory committee in a letter dated Dec. 29, 2008, signed by Sergio Duarte, UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

The 67-year-old Hernandez replaces Polish diplomat Adam Daniel Rotfeld of the Polish Institute of International Affairs. The other members of the international body are diplomats and security experts from United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Russia, China, Israel, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico and Sri Lanka.

Hernandez is its first Filipino member and chair.

She will fly to the US next month to formally accept the appointment and to preside over the body?s first meeting for the year on Feb. 18 in New York.

?I feel honored, I am pleased, but at the same time I feel some concerns that I can live up to their expectations,? she told the Inquirer.

Most senior member

Rotfeld?s letter did not say how Hernandez came to be chosen, but Hernandez theorized that she was probably the most senior member of the body and because of her performance on the board the last two years.

Hernandez was particularly excited about her new posting under the leadership of current UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

She said that when the Korean diplomat succeeded Annan in October 2006, he passed several major reforms regarding peacekeeping and UN employment practices. Ban has also taken particularly strong stands on global warming, pressing the issue repeatedly with US President George W. Bush. In Darfur, he helped persuade Sudanese President Omar As Bashir to allow peacekeeping troops to enter Sudan.

In her first New York meeting as chair of the international disarmament body in February, Hernandez is expected to steer discussions on the continued use of nuclear energy as a result of declining energy resources.

Nuclear energy debate

The board last August had a spirited exchange of views on rising global demand for energy and its impact on international and peace security. Some members had opposed the use of nuclear energy, while others had proposed the peaceful of the controversial energy source.

One board member said that as long as energy problems persisted around the world, there would be a ?nuclear energy renaissance? not only in the Middle East, but in other regions of the world.

Hernandez said it was a great learning experience and a great opportunity and responsibility to help develop global peace.

?We have called the world?s attention to issues linked to disarmament and non-proliferation of arms beyond the weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical warfare, small and light weapons,? she said.

Hernandez gained prominence when she helped investigate the December 1989 coup attempt with the Davide Commission, and later the July 2003 Oakwood mutiny as a member of the Feliciano Commission.

She was designated by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2004 as a presidential adviser overseeing military reforms. She quietly resigned after Ms Arroyo appointed former national police chief Hermogenes Ebdane as secretary of national defense, which was against the recommendation of the Feliciano Commission in January 2007.

She is going to head the UN advisory body in her private capacity, not as a representative of the Arroyo administration.