There are little known stories about our country’s peacekeeping efforts in the United Nations and sustained engagement in UN Peacekeeping Operations, a tradition that spans over 60 years. The UN peacekeeping website extensively expresses the priorities and milestones of this body, whose primary mission is to promote and maintain international peace and security.
Inside the UN headquarters are halls and corners that memorialize the lives and hail the heroism of peacekeepers. Somewhere in the visitors’ area near the bookshop and cafe stands a life-sized picture of women peacekeepers. When I accompany family and friends on a tour of the UN, I encourage them to have their photos taken beside the image as a way of paying tribute to the men and women in uniform and their remarkable role in peace building.
The Seeds of Peace, a book published by the DFA’s Foreign Service Institute (FSI) in collaboration with the office of the United Nations and International Organizations (UNIO) and the New York Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the UN, chronicles our country’s six-decade journey from the time our then “President Diosdado Macapagal heeded the call of then UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold for the Philippines to contribute troops to peace operations deployed in different parts of the world.” The book is replete with photos and rich narratives from our pioneering peace operations in Congo in 1963 to succeeding occasions when we sent members of our AFP and PNP to Cambodia, Haiti, Iraq, Kosovo, East Timor, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Golan Heights, South Sudan and Syria, among others.
As I read the book and examined colorful pictures of members of the Philippine contingent serving warm meals or preparing pairs of rubber sandals for children in Haiti or a military observer (as what the soldiers are also called) interacting with community members, I assumed how different their roles must be compared to when they are sent to war zones.
When we talk of peacekeepers we visualize military troops deployed in war-torn countries or nations rising from the ravages of war. While they may be geared like combatants, one of their main tasks is to assist people, women and children especially, emerge from the trauma of war and to rebuild their lives.
I thought that there’s no better way to appreciate the experience than to ask our current Military Adviser here at NYPM, Col. Randy Bance, a pilot of the Philippine Air Force who was detailed as part of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force or UNDOF in Ivory Coast. As a military observer, Col. Randy told the story of how they were assigned in team sites located in far-flung areas. Aboard an SUV armed only with a UN ID, GPS and camera, their primary role was to “engage with the community, patrol, observe and report” what they see and document them. He shared with enthusiasm another essential part of his task – “to supervise the rotation of uniformed units and convoy management and operations.” Peacekeepers work and operate within well-defined agreements because infringements of these mandates would mean a betrayal of the very ideals they are expected to embody.
There is also what I sensed as a more earnest part of every peacekeeper’s responsibilities, which Col. Randy spoke about – “engaging in civil military operations that is tantamount to conducting outreach programs.” As intermediaries they have “to win the hearts and trust of the community as we conduct feeding programs, medical missions and other activities” centered on helping people rebuild and heal their wounded lives. Complementing Col. Randy in his assignment here in New York is his deputy, Lt. Col. Noel Pataray, who served twice as a peacekeeper, first as platoon leader of the Philippine contingent to the UNDOF in Golan Heights. On his second assignment, Lt. Col. Noel took the role of a military information officer headquartered in Syria where he “provided threat information and developed threat analysis and assessment” necessary for decision-making initiatives.
At the UN, our military advisers cover the so-called C-34, a UN Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations. As a “unique, multilateral body it is made up of 157 member-states, that brings together different peacekeeping stakeholders, including the permanent members of the Security Council, troop- and police-contributing countries, leading financial contributors to the peacekeeping budget and several host states.”
How thousands of our uniformed men and women worked for peace and security and, in many instances, had risked their lives truly reflect our resolute commitment in upholding our long-held tradition of participating in peace building endeavors. We stay committed to this tradition, which includes Filipino women soldiers, who perform an equally crucial role in peace building.
A few weeks back at the UN, we watched a special screening of “20 Days in Mariupol,” a Sundance Film Festival winning documentary capturing the struggle of Associated Press journalists and civilians trapped in the early days of the invasion of Ukraine. In her remarks at the beginning of the movie, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield forewarned that the film is “searing and soul wrenching,” while the Pulitzer Prize winner filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov cautioned that it is “painful to watch but it must be painful to watch.” It was indeed too excruciating to watch but watch we must, because despite the thought of how peace could sometimes be so elusive, we remain optimistic about the inspiring works of institutions, of men and women committed to justice and peace.
“The Way Chose You” is a collection of reflections from “Markings,” a book by then UNSG Dag Hammarskjold. Clerics, academics, artists and peace activists articulated their personal reflections extracted from the enduring writings of Hammarskjold, one of which is, “The only value of a life is its content – for others.” For the UN peacekeepers, our gallant and brave soldiers being among them, this must be the reason why they chose to be in the frontlines – to see the value of life – in and for others.