Disaster council chief: ‘Worst over’

MANILA, Philippines—“The worst is over,” declared the chief of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council  as it lifted the no-fly and no-sail zones in Northern Luzon following news of North Korea’s botched rocket launch early Friday.

Citing information from the United States naval attache, NDRRMC executive director Benito Ramos said the North Korean rocket was launched at about 6:50 a.m. (Philippine time) but “crashed into the Yellow Sea after about five minutes in flight.”

“It’s as though an enormous burden was lifted off my shoulders,” Ramos told reporters.

Referring to criticism that the government had overreacted, Ramos said he did not regret being called “over acting,” saying that was better than not to have acted all.

Ramos said there were still no details as to why the launch but speculated it was likely the result of human error.

“This is what I’ve been saying about human error. That missile was like a cannon that was 1,000 times more powerful,” he said.

“I’ve experienced losing comrades to human error, which is why we were watching the developments very closely,” Ramos said. “They said it was overkill but that’s better than nothing at all.”

Asked how long it would take North Korea to attempt another launch, Ramos said there were no indications, although for now, the threat has passed.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin issued a statement confirming the failed launch and reiterated the Philippine government’s call to the communist state to cease its efforts to develop nuclear weaponry.

“We confirm that the North Korean rocket launch has failed to complete its intended flight and fallen (into) the sea west of Korea. This location is far from the Philippines,” he said, adding, “We reiterate our call to the North Koreans to abide by the United Nations resolutions, turn away from exploring further ballistic missile experimentation and fully cooperate with the rest of the world.”

Defense department spokesperson Peter Paul Galvez said it appeared that “North Korea will not stop in its experiments until a successful launch is achieved despite protests from the international community.”

“So it is imperative that our government seriously consider upgrading and modernizing particularly our air defense capability so we are not solely dependent on our allies and other friends to protect our sovereignty,” he said.

Asked which particular assets, Galvez said: “It could be surface-to-air, and also air-to-air capabilities. We’ll consider all possibilities.”

Originally posted: 11:45 am | Friday, April 13th, 2012