Ople reiterates DFA commitment in fight against terrorism

Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople yesterday reiterated the Philippines’ commitment to the global fight against terrorism and to a foreign policy advocating freedom, security, development and peace.

"With the end of the Cold War, the world has entered upon an era of uncertainty, uncharted frontiers, and shifting balances of power. Nations must see their way clear(ly) through the fog of swift, developing events, guided firmly by the lodestar of national interest and the mandates of the Constitution," Ople told Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) officials and foreign service officers in his closing remarks at a two-day planning workshop.

The DFA "has taken the lead in forging bilateral and multilateral partnerships to deal with the modern scourge of terror," he added.

In waging a diplomatic campaign to have the New People’s Army, the Communist Party of the Philippines’ military arm, declared as a terrorist group by the European Union, Ople said "the aim and purpose of our diplomacy is to help the CPP-NPA come to a rational decision, to lay down their arms and join the mainstream of democracy."

Jose Ma. Sison, who founded the CPP, has been living in self-imposed exile in the Netherlands, a member of the European Union.

Ople added that "we would like Sison and his National Democratic Front coterie to come home and join the rest of their countrymen in the peaceful pursuit of social justice and economic progress under a rule of law." The National Democratic Front is the political wing of the communist group.

The DFA also had a role in fostering a climate of peace and stability among nations with an interest in the South China Sea, one of the world’s major sea lanes, Ople said.

A framework agreement to guide the conduct of parties in the South China Sea was signed by China and the Association of South East Asian Nations in the recently concluded ASEAN summit in Cambodia.

The DFA workshop closed with foreign service officers pledging to support Ople’s vision of "launching a world-class foreign service for a strong republic," echoing a major theme of President Arroyo’s first State of the Nation Address.