Palace: NSC divided on US ultimatum

The National Security Council (NSC) was divided on whether the government should support a US ultimatum for Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to go into exile or face war, President Arroyo admitted yesterday.

But the Philippines will send a humanitarian mission after the conflict if the United Nations launched efforts to rebuild Iraq, according to administration officials.

"Perhaps at zero hour itself it is very difficult to come to a very definite and real consensus in which everybody agrees," Mrs. Arroyo told a radio interview. She declined to give details of the Tuesday meeting.

"But everybody agreed that we would focus on the safety of our Filipino nationals in the Middle East and our internal vigilance against terrorism," she said.

In an address to the American people last Tuesday, US President George W. Bush gave Saddam until today to go into exile with his sons or face "military conflict at a time of our choosing."

Mrs. Arroyo and administration officials earlier said the government would support US military action if it is authorized by the UN.

If Washington goes to war without UN authorization, the government will convene a national security meeting to determine what position to take.

Officials have warned of possible "sympathy attacks" by Islamic militants or rebel groups against vital installations and US interests in the country if the United States launches military action against Iraq.

However, the three-hour NSC meeting at Malacañang in the afternoon ended with an agreement to give the crisis "one last chance for a diplomatic resolution."

National Security Adviser Roilo Golez and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye, who read the vaguely worded statement to the press, explained that the administration remained supportive of a UN resolution calling for Iraq to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction.

Bunye later told an evening television interview Tuesday: "If (a diplomatic solution) doesn’t work and push comes to shove and we are called upon to give our support, then we will do it by way of political and moral support and not by military means."

Aside from Mrs. Arroyo’s security advisers, also at the meeting were anti-war advocate Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr., former President Corazon Aquino, Senate President Franklin Drilon, Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and key lawmakers.

"In the meantime, let us pray. Up to zero hour we are still praying for peace," Mrs. Arroyo said in the radio interview yesterday. "During these times... we must be practical in times of crisis. We must help one another."

Surigao del Norte Rep. Prospero Pichay said the government should support the US, saying Washington has a "legal justification" to use force because Baghdad failed to abide by the UN resolution and disarm.

The government is preparing a contingent of engineers and doctors in case the UN undertakes a rehabilitation of Iraq, Golez said. — With Mike Frialde, Ann Corvera, Katherine Adraneda, Romel Bagares, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Paolo Romero, Artemio Dumlao, Benjie Villa