Press Release No. 196-03
25 April 2003
EXPENSES
FOR HUMANITARIAN CONTIGENT TO BE IN ACCORDANCE WITH LAW; COST TO BE IN CONTEXT
OF RP AS A DEVELOPING NATION- OPLE
In the midst of comments from some sectors relating to the expense to be
incurred by the humanitarian contingent to be sent by the Philippines to
Iraq, Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople today said that such expenditures
will be made in accordance with all applicable Philippine laws and regulations.
“Very early on, the President had stated that the Philippine contribution
to post-conflict Iraq will be in the context of the capabilities of the Philippines
as a developing country. A necessary and natural component of this
policy statement is that any expenses related to such contribution will be
made in accordance with applicable Philippine laws and regulations,” Secretary
Ople said during a press conference at the Department of Foreign Affairs
today.
“Given the multi-agency character of the Contingent, we will have to tap
not only departmental sources, but other appropriate government sources and
perhaps, and subject to appropriate rules and regulations, non-government
sources,” the Secretary added.
During the press conference, Secretary Ople said that the decision to send
a humanitarian contingent to Iraq stands on firm policy and legal grounds.
“As I stated yesterday (see attached press release), our deployment to Iraq
is in pursuit of our national interests and is clearly for a public purpose,”
he said.
“We must broaden our vision and accept that in order to protect the interests
and welfare of our people, we may have to engage the services of our government
officials beyond our borders. That in order to ensure the safety of
our people, it may be necessary for us to help insure the safety and stability
of people and societies in other countries. We live in a very different
world and parochial and narrow-sighted criticisms, and worse, self-serving
statements proclamations and grandstanding, do a great disservice to our
people and to our nation,” the Secretary said.
The Secretary also clarified that the composition of the contingent was based
on initial assessments and that it is possible that the number of the members
of the contingent will be trimmed down.
He said that this will be done not only to make sure that we do not send
more than what is necessary to complete the mission, but also taking into
consideration the President’s policy decision that any Philippine contribution
shall take into consideration our capabilities as a developing nation.
“I intend to brief our Congressional leaders on our deployment to Iraq shortly,”
he added. END.