RP troops in Lebanon eyed

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. proposed yesterday the deployment of a small Philippine contingent in the planned United Nations-sponsored multinational peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

He said he would ask President Arroyo to present the proposal to the UN, to the country’s partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and to China, Japan and South Korea, which should "also be urged to participate in the peacekeeping mission."

Philippine presence in the UN force would "help bring down the level of violence in the Middle East and act as the best shield for 34,000 Filipinos, most of whom are being evacuated from southern Lebanon," he said.

De Venecia noted that the country has sent small groups of peacekeepers to various troubled areas around the world under UN auspices.

The formation of a robust multinational force in southern Lebanon to keep Hezbollah guerrillas and the Israelis from fighting and to eventually allow the Lebanese Army to occupy that part of their country is apparently the thrust of ongoing diplomatic initiatives launched by the United States and Britain.

Another objective of the diplomatic effort is the disarming of Hezbollah, which has become a formidable military organization that is better trained and better equipped than the Lebanese Army. It is reportedly receiving help in terms of weaponry and funds from Iran and Syria.

A resolution calling for a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, the formation of an international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon and the eventual disarming of Hezbollah would be presented to the UN this week.

The US has tagged Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

De Venecia also called for a "full evacuation" of Filipinos to northern Beirut from the Lebanon-Israeli border in the south, where fierce fighting between Israeli forces and Islamic militants has been going on.

He said he has arranged an "in-country" evacuation of thousands of Filipinos to a Christian fortress in the mountains of Northern Beirut, where there is a Maronite Catholic Church under Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Butros Sfeir.

He said he met Cardinal Sfeir, a member of the College of Cardinals, in 1976.

He thanked the cardinal for allowing the use of his place as an evacuation area for Filipinos.