By Cynthia Balana
Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 17:53:00 01/21/2010 Filed Under: Military, International peace processes
MANILA, Philippines—A Filipino three-star general will assume command of the 1,050-strong United Nations Peacekeeping Force in the Golan Heights next month following the approval of his appointment by the UN Security Council, according to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo.
Speaking in a press conference on Thursday, Romulo said that Major General Natalio Ecarma III was formally appointed on Monday by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon as the new force commander and head of mission for the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights.
Ecarma's appointment was endorsed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arrroyo and submitted to the UN headquarters in New York by Ambassador Hilario Davide Jr., Philippine permanent representative to the UN.
“The Philippines is honored to have been given the responsibility of helping oversee the peace in that part of the Middle East,” Romulo said.
Ecarma will replace Maj. Gen. Wolfgang Jilke of Austria and will head what is considered to be one of the more established UN peacekeeping operation composed of troops from Austria, Canada, Croatia, India, Japan and the Philippines; 75 military observers; 39 international staff; and 105 local civilian staff, according to Romulo.
A member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1981, Ecarma is presently the deputy commandant of the Philippine Marine Corps and the commander of Marine Forces Southern Philippines. He previously served as commander of the Presidential Guards Battalion; assistant chief of staff for operations of the Presidential Security Group; and commander of the 3rd Marine Brigade.
Romulo said Ecarma came from a family of soldiers. His grandfather was a major general in the defunct Philippine Constabulary while his father was a major general in the Philippine Air Force.
The secretary said that Ecarma's appointment came almost 10 years after Army Maj. Gen. Jaime de los Santos was named commander of UN Peacekeeping Forces in East Timor. It also came three months after the Philippines deployed a 336-member infantry battalion to the Golan Heights to assume the peacekeeping responsibilities of Poland.
Ecarma, who was present in the press conference, said he was happy and proud to represent the country in the international arena of peacekeeping.
He commended all Filipino peacekeepers scattered around the world, especially those in Syria and Haiti, for their impressive feat.
Established by the Security Council at the end of the Arab-Israeli War in 1974, UNDOF is tasked to maintain the ceasefire and supervise the disengagement of Israel and Syrian forces and the so-called Areas of Separation and Limitation between the two parties.
The Philippines has a long peacekeeping tradition dating back to 1963 when it deployed a squadron from the Philippine Air Force to support UN operations in the Congo.
At the end of 2009, the Philippines was 23rd in the UN list of top troop contributing nations, with a total of 1,056 officers and personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police serving in Afghanistan, Cote d'Ivoire, Darfur, Golan Heights, Haiti, Kashmir, Liberia, Timor-Leste, and Sudan.
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20100121-248630/RP-general-heads-peacekeeping-forces-in-Golan-Heights
