RP TROOPS TO KOREA POSSIBLE UNDER MUTUAL DEFENSE TREATY
MANILA, NOVEMBER 29, 2010 (TRIBUNE) The government will be compelled to deploy Filipino soldiers in South Korea if the United States invokes the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) in the event that the tension between North Korea and South Korea escalates into a full-blown war, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said yesterday.
Enrile, in a radio interview, added the developing situation in the Korean peninsula is also a concern to the country.
North Korea had warned of unpredictable consequences if the US and South Korea go ahead with naval exercises in the Yellow Sea. The drill,
nevertheless, started yesterday.
The USS George Washington aircraft carrier and its battle group were planning four days of exercises with South Korea from yesterday as a show of force after Pyongyang stunned the world with artillery strikes on Yeonpyeong Island.
The planned drill has also heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing since China regards the Yellow Sea as its own ancestral waters and has refrained from condemning its communist ally Pyongyang over Tuesday's attack.
China — which has resisted taking sides in the worst flare-up in decades between the Koreas — was more outspoken in its opposition to the US-South Korean drills.
"It's a very unpredictable situation," Enrile said.
"But if America decides to go into an all-out war, they might call on us to help them under the MDT," he said.
The overall accord contained eight articles and dictated that both nations would support each other if either the Philippines or the United States were to be attacked by an external party.
American soldiers currently in the country are engaged in joint military exercises under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) but they can be pulled out anytime.
"We cannot do anything about that. That's a function of the command of the US. They can pull out their forces from the Philippines to Korea and replace them with others," he said.
Enrile allayed fears of the possibility of North Korea, launching an attack against the Philippines, saying that the foreign government doesn't have the capability to engage in such move.
"We will be dragged into it only if America will call upon our obligation under the MDT," he said.
"But given our capability, we don't have anything to offer but probably provide needed doctors, nurses, engineers and maybe some ground troops. That's all that we can offer them. We do not have any Air Force, we do not have any navy," he said.
"But we cannot refuse, if we're called upon because that's part of the MDT they can call upon us to assist them," he said.
Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz also denied reports that the country has suspended the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to South Korea.
"There is no order to suspend temporarily the deployment of overseas Filipino workers to South Korea, as Radyo ng Bayan first reported and picked up later by other news organizations," Baldoz said in a statement.
She clarified that there was a deferment in the deployment of 55 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to the said country, but it was reset to Dec. 7.
"What there is was a deferment of the deployment of 55 South Korea-bound OFWs who are supposed to leave on November 30. Their departure has been reset to December 7," she explained.
The rescheduling of their flight was recommended by Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alberto Romulo as a matter of caution and prudence, upon the order of President Aquino to assess the situation, she said.
"Any further decision on the deployment of OFWs to South Korea will be reviewed after the team of Ambassador Roy Cimatu, which has been ordered to go to South Korea to assess the situation there, has submitted a report," Baldoz stressed.
It was reported earlier that the government had temporarily stopped sending OFWs to South Korea because of the hostilities between that country and North Korea.
There are some 60,000 Filipinos in South Korea, including about 10,000 undocumented workers.
Baldoz said the government is ready to implement its contingency plan if the situation on the Korean peninsula country worsens.
In a related development, a Malacanang official said overseas Filipino workers can still go to South Korea despite the rising tension on the Korean Peninsula.
Deputy Presidential Spokesman Abigail Valte said on radio the scheduled deployment of 55 OFWs to Seoul last week was only deferred for a week.
"By the week lang ang deferment. Those scheduled to leave will not be affected," Valte explained.
Valte added that President Aquino has already ordered government agencies concerned to assess the ongoing situation on the Korean peninsula.
Philippine Airlines (PAL), meanwhile, said it is ready to mount emergency flights to evacuate Filipinos in South Korea should the tension escalates.
The flag carrier expressed its readiness to mount special repatriation flights following a meeting by PAL officials with the Office of the President and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
"We informed Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa that PAL has available aircraft that it can use for emergency flights to repatriate Filipinos who might be trapped in the dispute between North and South Korea," said PAL president Jaime Bautista.
"We want to assure the government and our 'kababayans' in South Korea that the national flag carrier is always ready to assist in times of emergency and lend a helping hand in their hour of need," he added.
As part of the preparations, the government and PAL are discussing and identifying possible pick-up areas in South Korea where PAL planes could safely land to ferry Filipinos back to the Philippines.
"We fervently hope that the conflict in Korea would soon end, but we can't take things for granted. That's why we have thrown our full cooperation and support to government in case of a worst case scenario," Bautista said.
Meanwhile, PAL said it continues to mount regular flights to Seoul and Busan until otherwise advised either by Philippine or South Korean authorities.
Updates on the conflict are also being fed to PAL management by its staff in Seoul who, in turn, get information from the Philippine embassy in South Korea.
Many times in its 70-year history, the national flag carrier — with its wide international route network — has been called upon to operate emergency missions to evacuate Filipinos in conflict-stricken territories.
PAL currently flies Manila-Seoul twice a day, to Busan four times a week, and daily from Cebu to Seoul.
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