Top UN exec thanks PH peacekeepers for staying in Golan Heights

UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon and DFA Secretary Albert del Rosario   Photo from DFA

MANILA, Philippines—United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has commended Philippine peacekeepers for staying put on the Golan Heights despite instances of abduction of Filipino soldiers earlier this year, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Saturday.

The foreign office said Ban “profusely thanked” the Philippine government through Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario for deciding to retain its force of at least 340 peacekeepers in the volatile ceasefire zone between Israel and Syria. The two met during the secretary general’s meeting with foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in New York on September 26.

“Mr. Ban publicly commended the Philippine government for maintaining Filipino peacekeepers in the United Nations Disengagement Force in the Golan Heights (UNDOF) despite the two kidnapping incidents in March and May this year,” said a foreign office statement. “Mr. Ban described the Philippine peacekeepers as being extremely courageous in performing an outstanding necessary task.”

Del Rosario had proposed to President Benigno Aquino the withdrawal of Filipino peacekeepers from the Golan Heights by the end of the troop rotation schedule on August 11 due to concerns over the personal safety of the Philippine contingent.

A total of 25 Filipinos were abducted in separate incidents while one was wounded in ighting between Syrian rebel and government forces on June 6.

But Aquino decided to maintain the country’s peacekeeping force in the area following appeals from the UN, the United States and other countries.

The UN also heeded Manila’s request for enhanced security for the peacekeeping force, including the provision of more armored equipment, raising the force to the regular strength of 1,250 through encouraging other nations to send peacekeepers and a six-month rotation cycle for the Philippine contingent.

Del Rosario is in New York for the UN General Assembly. He is  to address the world body on Monday to discuss the country’s efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The goals are a set of global development goals on health, education, poverty reduction, gender equality and environmental sustainability that nations must ideally achieve by 2015.

“His statement will share the Philippine experience on lessons learned in achieving the eight MDGs, and the Philippines’ proposals on how the post-2015 development agenda should look.  His statement will also highlight critical issues that are important to the Philippines, such as migration, peace and security, and disaster risk reduction,” the foreign office said in an earlier statement.

The general assembly, an annual diplomatic event that gathers world leaders in one hall, opened Tuesday and is set to engage member nations in high-level discussions on critical world issues, including the Syrian conflict, Iran-United States tensions, the Israeli-Palestine conflict, nuclear disarmament and the Millennium Development Goals.

This year’s general assembly theme is  “The Post-2015 Development Agenda: Setting the Stage.”

A report recently released by the UN Development Program, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the Asian Development Bank found the Philippines an “early achiever” in achieving gender equality and women empowerment and noted some progress in implementing programs for the prevention of HIV/AIDS and other deadly diseases.

The report, however, found the Philippines lagging in the other goals, particularly in poverty reduction and improving access to basic education.