By
Kazi Mahmood, IOL Southeast Asia Correspondent
KUALA
LUMPUR, September 16 (IslamOnline) - A green light from the United
Nations is not enough for the Philippines to join another war against
Iraq, and the U.S. can’t invoke its Mutual Defense Treaty with the
Southeast Asian nation to open its airspace and facilities to American
warplanes that would take part in a war on Iraq, government officials
said Monday, September 16.
A
high-ranking official at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila
said the government would also have to consider the country's own
interests that would be placed at risk if the United States launched a
full-scale attack on Iraq.
"Aside
from the 1.5 million Filipinos in the Middle East, we also have to
consider the effects of our decision on our Moro [Muslim
secessionists] problem in Mindanao," the official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, said, according to The Inquirer.
On
Saturday, September 14, Malacanang announced that American warplanes
would be allowed into Philippine air space only for humanitarian
reasons, and on the condition that the U.N. Security Council supported
any U.S. military action.
Presidential
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the treaty would take effect only
if the war being fought were in the country or within the Asian
region.
Bunye
said past military pacts between the Philippine government and the
U.S. do not compel the government to get involved in all the wars that
the U.S. will fight, and that includes its war against Iraq.
“Although
we are part of the international agreement against terrorism, it
doesn’t follow that we will be involved in the war against Iraq,”
he said.
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Arroyo’s
earlier offer of the country’s airspace and facilities to the
U.S. drew fire from the opposition
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Several
important figures of the opposition altogether lauded the current
government’s decision to reject the use of the country’s airspace
for military purposes.
According
to local newspapers, the Department of Foreign Affairs source said
that Iraq remained an influential country among Arab states and its
support for Philippine government initiatives in solving the Moro
secessionist movement would be quite valuable.
"We
should understand that we still have a Moro secession problem in the
South and that Iraq has allies in the Arab community [who] could help
us solve our own issues in Mindanao," the source reportedly said.
President
Macapagal-Arroyo had earlier offered the country’s airspace and
facilities to the U.S. after U.S. President George W. Bush threatened
to stage a unilateral strike against Iraq, which he accused of
allegedly possessing weapons of mass destruction.
The
President’s statement immediately drew fire from the opposition, and
triggered a formal protest from Iraq.
