|
DEDICATION and sacrifice surely reap rewards as more than a hundred
Filipinos were awarded with peacekeeping medals by the United
Nations recently, the Philippine Mission to the United Nations
reported Thursday.
In a report to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto
Romulo, Charge d’ Affaires of the Philippine Mission, Leslie Gatan
said the medals were awarded to 155 officers and enlisted personnel
from the military and 17 officers from the police, who are serving
with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti.
The medals were presented by Ambassador Hedi
Annabi, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and mission
head, during joint ceremonies at the headquarters of the Philippine
peacekeeping contingent in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince on
June 27.
“Since the installation of the Mission,
Filipino soldiers and police officers have contributed to our
efforts to build, together with the Haitian authorities, a solid
foundation for the stability of Haiti,” Annabi said.
Col. Rodrigo Diapana, commander of the
Philippine military contingent, noted that receiving the decorations
is an honor for both the police and military contingents as a whole
and for each peacekeeper in particular.
“Today is a day of honor for the
military and police contingents from the Philippines,” Diapana
said.
Filipino troops and police officers were
first deployed to work with the UN mission during the Philippine’s
membership in the United Nations Security Council in 2004.
At present, the Philippines has a total of 670
peacekeepers deployed in UN missions in Afghanistan, Cote d’
Ivoire, Darfur, Georgia, Haiti, Kosovo, Liberia, Nepal, Sudan and
Timor-Leste.
-- Katrice R. Jalbuena
|
