MANILA, Philippines - The most senior Filipino military commander of the country’s peacekeeping contingent in the Golan Heights returned to Manila yesterday afternoon.
Col. James Ezra Enriquez, on leave as chief of staff of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) under the command of Indian Lt. Gen. Iqbal Singh Singha, arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal I in a blue polo shirt and a blue cap – the color of the UN troops.
Maj. Gen. Domingo Tutaan confirmed Enriquez’s return as he assured military officials that all Filipino troops in Golan Heights are safe and well.
“Enriquez requested to be repatriated. He will report to the chief of staff (Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang) first before we can make any statement,” Tutaan said.
Enriquez resigned from his post as UNDOF’s chief of staff due to disagreements with Singha, the UN Force commander in the Golan Heights, over his handling of the three-day standoff involving Filipino peacekeepers whose UN post at position 68 was surrounded by Syrian rebels.
Singha wanted the 40 Filipino peacekeepers to surrender their weapons to the rebels to secure the release of 43 Fijians earlier abducted by the al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra rebels.
However, Enriquez, taking guidance from top defense and military leadership at home base, defied the Indian officer’s order.
Refusing to lay down their weapons, Filipinos peacekeepers then engaged the rebels in a seven-hour firefight and later escaped from their post under cover of darkness.
Singha described the action taken by the Filipino peacekeepers as unprofessional for defying his order and called them cowards for abandoning their post.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Catapang defended Enriquez and his men, saying that had the Filipino soldiers obeyed Singha’s order, the troops would have been captured by the rebels just like their Fijian counterparts, further complicating the security situation on the ground.
“Is fighting the enemies for seven hours an act of cowardice?” Catapang said.