Pinoy UN peacekeeper killed in Haiti

ILOILO CITY — Despite the killing of Filipino peacekeeper Army S/Sgt. Antonio Batomalaque, the 147-member Philippine military contingent will remain in Haiti, President Arroyo said yesterday.

Speaking to reporters at the Central Market here, Mrs. Arroyo said she will not pull out Filipino troops from the violence-marred Caribbean country because soldiers in the Philippines are also facing the same risk — death.

"Well, our troops are also getting killed in the Philippines," she said.

Mrs. Arroyo said peacekeepers in Haiti were sent by the United Nations whose decision has "the force of law," and that the Philippines has a "moral obligation" to follow suit as a UN member.

"And we are part of the United Nations," she said. "We are even a member of the Security Council."

At their apartment in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City yesterday, Batomalaque’s wife Merly said she had hoped her husband was still alive after one of her three sons told her "a certain S/Sgt. Batomalaque, a Filipino UN peacekeeper" was reported on television to have been killed in Haiti.

She tried to convince herself that there was another S/Sgt. Batomalaque who had been deployed with the UN peacekeeping forces.

Her fear turned to grief when two military officials knocked on the door later in the afternoon and told her the bad news.

Merle said she wondered why the cell phone of her husband, an ambulance driver at the AFP Hospital in Camp Aguinaldo before his Haiti assignment, just kept on ringing yesterday when she called him up.

"Maybe he was just too busy with his job," she had told herself. Merly had been in the habit of calling him every day since his assignment to Haiti.

Yesterday was Merly’s day off from her job with the Social Security System in Quezon City, and she decided to do the household chores.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said Mrs. Arroyo was saddened by Batomalaque’s death and had ordered "appropriate recognition" for him.

Mrs. Arroyo asked authorities to provide assistance for the family of Batomalaque, he added.

On the other hand, Gilbert Asuque, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman, said the government joins the Filipino people in mourning the loss of Batomalaque, a native of Asuncion, Davao del Norte, but noted "we have a commitment" with the UN.

"Certainly the soldiers know the risk involved," he said. "We have to accept it and do the best that we can in relation to the welfare of the next of kin. We’ll continue with the work of peacekeeping in Haiti." Batomalaque, who was serving with the 6,200-member UN peacekeeping force, was fatally shot Thursday on the fringes of a slum in the capital, Port-au-Prince, he added.

Asuque said just two weeks ago, Marine S/Sgt. Rodrigo Galam, another Filipino peacekeeper, was hit by sniper fire while on guard duty at the future headquarters in Port-au-Prince of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti.

"The soldier escaped unhurt thanks to his helmet and flak jacket," he said.

Condolences

In Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s interim Prime Minister, Gerald Latortue called Philippine Ambassador to the UN Lauro Baja "to express his government’s and his personal condolences to President Arroyo, the family of the slain peacekeeper and the Filipino people on the incident."

Baja is in Haiti as part of a delegation from the UN Security Council to assess conditions before a vote next month on extending the UN peacekeeping mission beyond June, when its mandate expires.

"The Security Council is also preparing a draft communiqué condemning the incident in the strongest terms and expressing its condolences to the family (of Batomalaque) and the Philippine government," he said. — Ronilo Ladrido Pamonag, Jaime Laude, Pia Lee-Brago, Aurea Calica