¡¡¡¡MANILA, Sept. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The administration of President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo has backtracked and withdrawn its offer tothe United States to
use Philippine air space for its planned attack on Iraq.
¡¡¡¡The Presidential Palace said in a policy statement released Saturday by
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye that it would consider allowing American war
planes into Philippine air space "for humanitarian purposes," but only if the
United Nations Security Council would support the US action, the Philippine
Daily Inquirerreported Sunday.
¡¡¡¡The statement also said that it saw "no clear basis" for military action
against Iraq under existing UN Security Council resolutions, and that the
Philippines' concern at the moment was the safety of the 1.2 million Filipinos
in the Middle East.
¡¡¡¡The government had been drawing heavy criticism since it offered last week
to the United States the use of Philippine air space and refueling facilities
even without a formal request.
¡¡¡¡Arroyo and Foreign Secretary Blas Ople had said the offer was part of the
Philippines' commitment to the call of the UN SecurityCouncil for a global
anti-terrorism war following the attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
¡¡¡¡But on Saturday, the statement noted that if a UN resolution ispassed on
which the United States can base its action, the Philippines will join other
countries in the attack on Iraq, adding that it would study the resolution's
contents "in the context of our primordial interest of protecting Filipinos in
the Middle East."
¡¡¡¡"At most the Philippines might allow the use of its territory and air
space, but only for humanitarian purposes," it went on. "If no such resolution
is passed, it is clear that the Philippines cannot even consider allowing the
use of its territory and air space for an attack on Iraq."
¡¡¡¡The statement also said the government continued to hope for a "peaceful
and diplomatic" solution to the US-Iraq conflict. But itstressed that its stance
against terrorism was unchanged.
¡¡¡¡Arroyo was one of the first to declare support for the US-led war against
terrorism launched after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,which the United States
blamed on the al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden. Enditem
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