AFP official: No need to pull RP peacekeepers out of Iraq

Filipino troops in Iraq need not be pulled out despite the mounting terrorist attacks in that country, their commander said yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, Brig. Gen. Pedro Ramboanga said the 96-man Philippine police-military contingent is safe in south-ccentral Iraq, along with the Polish multi-force brigade.

"Compared to the so-called Sunni triangle, south-central Iraq is relatively safe," he said. "In fact the Filipino contingent easily blended and subsequently gained acceptance from the local folks out there."

The Sunni triangle is an area covering Iraq’s capital of Baghdad, Barkalia province, and down to ousted president Saddam Hussein’s province of Tikrit, which is occupied by Italian and British forces, he added.

Also yesterday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople refuted reports that the Philippines was poised to withdraw from Iraq if the situation worsened.

He urged caution against making such speculations. "Such speculation might embolden terrorists to test our resolve" to help rebuild Iraq despite increasing attacks against US troops and coalition forces, he said.

"Our commitment to the people of Iraq remains firm. The terrorist bombings in Iraq have not shaken our resolve to stay and work with the people of Iraq," Ople said.— Jaime Laude