Press Release No. 081-03
12 March 2003
STATEMENT
OF THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT DURING THE OPEN DEBATE
IN THE SECURITY COUNCIL ON THE ISSUE OF IRAQ
Mr. President:
We have also strongly supported every effort to resolve the issue of Iraq
in a peaceful way. However, we have found that this is not enough and
that we have to balance this with efforts at putting diplomatic and political
pressure on the Iraqi leadership to disarm.
This is a difficult balance -- calling for peace while at the same time making
sure that the Iraqi leadership does not misinterpret our desire for peace
as a refusal to resort to all means allowed and necessary by the UN Charter
and international law.
What we want is a stable and secure Middle East -- for a stable and secure
Middle East is a safer Middle East for everyone, particularly the one and
a half million Filipinos in the region. The unresolved issue of Iraq’s
weapons of mass destruction places the stability of the Middle East in peril
and could be a direct threat to all of the people in the Middle East, including
our Filipinos there. We truly fear the threat, the use and the spread
and transfer of weapons of mass destruction, and what this would mean to
our people in the Middle East and elsewhere and to our desire to win the
war against terror.
Security Council Resolution 1441 has found Iraq to be in material breach
of its obligations under relevant resolutions. Full and verifiable
compliance has not been achieved.
In her statement during the 13th Non-Aligned Summit in Kuala Lumpur, President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called on the Iraqi leadership to comply with its
obligations and spare the heroic people of Iraq the agonies of a devastating
war. President Macapagal-Arroyo also said that there is a great future
for the Iraqi people beyond this crisis and beyond strategic accommodation
with U.N. demands.
President Macapagal-Arroyo believes that there is a great future for an outward
looking and pluralistic Iraq.
We share everyone’s hopes for peace, but we must always be ready to take
decisive action to preserve and maintain meaningful peace.
Thank you Mr. President.