Press Release No. 128-03
31 March 2003
PHILIPPINES WELCOMES RESUMPTION OF UN OIL-FOR-FOOD PROGRAM FOR IRAQ

The Philippines welcomes the decision of the Security Council authorizing Secretary-General Kofi Annan to administer the Oil-for-Food program for Iraq.

“This decision of the Security Council is a most welcome development as it lays the solid groundwork with which the world can address the basic and humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople said.  “We welcome, in particular, the unity that the Security Council showed in unanimously adopting this decision,” he added.

On 28 March the Security Council unanimously approved a resolution adjusting the suspended Oil-for-Food program to give United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan more authority to administer the operation for the next 45 days, subject to renewal for another 45 days.

Amidst speculations that certain countries would block approval of the revived Oil-for-Food program, Secretary Ople had made strong calls for countries to focus on and unite behind the need to address the humanitarian concerns of the Iraqi people.  Secretary-General Kofi Annan had made the proposal to revive the Oil-for-Food program.

On 27 March, a day before the vote was to be taken by the Security Council, Secretary Ople made specific appeals to the countries that objected to the proposal of the Secretary-General to reconsider their decision.  The Secretary had stated that he understood their concerns, but that “the issue of the legitimacy of the war on Iraq should be disassociated from the urgent need to prepare for the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people.”

“The approval to revive the Oil-for-Food program is a step towards greater unity on the issues that are truly important.  I would like to reiterate my support for the call of Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the international community to move beyond the issues that divide and focus instead on becoming united, particularly on the need to address the humanitarian challenges facing the Iraqi people,” Secretary Ople said.

END.