'Release

Senate President Blas Ople is urging the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to facilitate the payment of some P34.5 million in Gulf War claims which a DFA official, he said, has allegedly kept in a bank deposit to earn interest.

Ople said the fund was released by the United Nations to the Philippine government through the Philippine Claims and Compensation Committee (PCCC).

He said Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo Siazon has directed the DFA official to go on leave after initial reports showed that the Gulf War fund has, indeed, been earning interest in the personal account of the official.

"I don't see any reason why such a huge account could accumulate if there is a conscious effort to immediately distribute the war claims payment to their respective beneficiaries," Ople said.

The senator earlier had asked the DFA to publish in newspapers the names of the Gulf War claimants whose applications for claims have been approved and paid by the UN Compensation Commission (UNCC).

He said most of the claimants - former overseas contract workers trapped in the Middle East when the UN launched "Operation Desert Storm" in the early 1990's - may have not been informed officially of the release of their war claims.

According to reports reaching the Senate, a portion of the interest amounting to P1 million has been used by the PCCC - supposedly with the UN's approval - for the purchase of computers used in processing the Gulf War claims.

"I am even against the purported approval by the UNCC for the deduction of the P1 million from the war claims for the use of PCCC in its operations. It is unfair to the claimants," Ople said.