Golez: Faux pas is water under bridge

Following the erroneous announcement of the reported closure of the Philippine embassy in Iraq, National Security Adviser Roilo Golez yesterday said he will take full responsibility for such disclosures, a day after claiming the media took his statement out of context.

Golez told a news conference in Pasay City that the incident was already "water under the bridge."

"Tapos na ‘yun (that’s over). That’s water under the bridge and I take full responsibility for the miscommunication," he said.

Golez came under fire after he erroneously announced Sunday that the Philippine mission in Iraq has been ordered closed by President Arroyo and its operations transferred to Amman, Jordan.

He had said the embassy will be closed for "practical reasons" and that Philippine chargé d’ affaires to Iraq Grace Escalante has already been evacuated from Baghdad.

Escalante and Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople denied that the embassy was ordered closed due to the looming threat of the United States to force Iraq to disarm.

During the forum, Golez declined to elaborate further on several pressing issues, including Ople’s report linking an Iraqi diplomat with the bandit group Abu Sayyaf in the death of an American serviceman in Zamboanga City.

"I am not at liberty to talk about this possibility even hypothetically but it would be discussed by the NSC. I can’t discuss it in an open forum," he said.