018 ~ Flesh To the Vision

SPECIAL RELEASE

Every 29th of May, after the Fifty-Seventh General Assembly of the UN passed resolution 57/129 in December 2002, the International Day of UN Peacekeepers is observed the world over. The humble 24-hour tribute is for the men and women under the UN Blue Beret or Blue Helmet.

It is for the unconditionally brave who could surely rise to any challenge in the mission area, and who would fall in the cause of peace.

To the Filipinos, it is not just a day for remembering the Philippine military contingent’s loss of Captain Emmanuel J Rabaya, in 1991, to a detonated fuel tank-contained bomb that killed several UN Guards running the humanitarian programme for northern Iraqis. Or of Staff Sergeant Antonio M Batomalaque, in 2005, to an assault by Haïtians who were averse to multinational presence in their country. Or of the Filipino soldiers who died of non-hostile causes in the UN peacekeeping and relief missions in Iraq, East Timor, Liberia, and the Sudan. Or of the hundred-odd other soldiers, including first casualty Private Alipio Secillano of the UN Command in Korea, who returned home –quite heartbreakingly– in flag-draped caskets.

It is not just a day for remembering the Philippine police contingent’s loss of Senior Police Officers 4 Winston D Zerrudo and Edilberto Evangelista who, in 1993, died while serving in Cambodia.

The occasion is also for paying homage to the rest from the Global Pulisya and the Global Kawal who were a bit luckier to miss their own tragedies by a mere hairbreadth. It is for the everyday UN Blue Beret and Blue Helmet whose living conditions in the mission area are not secure from land mines, stray bullets, assaults, vehicular accidents, malaria-bearing mosquitoes, or other forms of threat.

It is to remember the resolute soldiers of the Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea’s 10th and 20th Battalion Combat Teams, who delivered what remained of the British, Greek, and South Korean divisions from leagues of pro-North Korea fighters. And the rest from the 19th, 14th, and 2nd Battalion Combat Teams, all of whom had their share of difficulties, exploits, and redemptive efforts.

The International Day of UN Peacekeepers is to remember the mythical Limbas Squadron flyboys, circa 1963, whose skillful maneuvers on their F-86E Sabre jets actually saved them from the perils of constrained logistics. They emerged intact after gloriously front-lining in neutralizing airborne secessionists in the Congo.

It is also to remember the highly determined police officers holding the line, over and above personal convenience (as the cliché goes), in the name of the UN Flag and the peace for which it is hoisted.

The words are not empty.

In 1993, the team of Filipino CivPol Ager P Ontog Jr went against a majority of multinational colleagues who wanted out of the area that was already saturated by hostile forces. It refused to defy a standing order from mission headquarters in Phnom Penh, choosing to stay put –to the relief of the Nigerian district superior– and defend the camp from the throngs of armed-to-the-hilt Cambodian rightists. The attitude was enough to restore unit confidence and l’ésprit de corps.

In 2006, Filipino UNPol Edgar L Layon single-handedly wrestled an amok who in a firing binge disrupted the otherwise peaceful surrender-march of rebellious elements of the Timor-Leste Police Service. Never mind taking a hit that shattered his digestive system, and which would cause his untimely repatriation from the UN special political mission. The senior police officer, commander of the PNP contingent in the young and yet-fragile nation, averted what could have been a bloodier bloodbath on the innocent road.

The list goes on beyond the 24-hour special tribute. In fact, more action happens as the world turns, so one May day may not be enough.

No abstract or concrete monument really is, for commending those that personify hope. And for celebrating the human spirit that is flesh to all UN efforts of ripping through grave situations, as mandated; of pacifying parties-at-conflict and alleviating the plight of the distressed; or, simply, of saving lives and property.