PRESS RELEASE

NYPM-049-06

19 NOVEMBER 2006

NEW YORK—The 18 November attack by student demonstrators opposed to the continued presence of the United Nations in Haiti in which a Filipino police officer was wounded was actually one of two incidents involving Filipino peacekeepers on that day and the second incident in three weeks where a Filipino police officer was injured.  

The Philippine Mission to the United Nations said that aside from last Saturday's   attack on a UN police vehicle that left two police officers wounded, it also received reports that demonstrators also harassed members of the Philippine military contingent guarding a UN housing facility in the Haitian capital later that day.

In his report to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo, Ambassador Lauro L. Baja Jr., Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said Inspector Godofredo Ergo, a member of the 45-man Philippine National Police contingent serving with the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) was wounded in the first incident.

Ambassador Baja said the PNP officer was treated for a glass splinter in the left eye after the UN police vehicle he was riding in was attacked by student demonstrators in the Champs de Mars area near the Presidential Palace at around 11:30 a.m.

Ambassador Baja, quoting a report from Senior Supt. Lester Camba, the PNP contingent commander in Haiti, said Inspector Ergo and a Niger police officer identified as Andrea Renault were escorting another UN vehicle carrying election materials when they encountered demonstrators from the University of Haiti who were earlier protesting against UN presence in the country.

The ambassador said the demonstrators ran after the UN vehicle and pelted it with rocks, breaking its windshield and injuring Inspector Ergo and Renault. The attack was believed triggered by the wounding of two of the protestors by a security guard at a nearby building who opened fire on the demonstrators. The security guard was later taken into custody.

The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) later reported that a group of demonstrators also attacked Filipino peacekeepers providing security at the Le Plaza Hotel also in Port-au-Prince.

The DPKO informed the Philippine Mission that the demonstrators pelted three Filipino sentries with rocks and other projectiles but no injuries were reported. Army Lt. Col. Johnny Bergado, commander of the 4 ^th Philippine Peacekeeping Contingent in Haiti, confirmed the DPKO report.

The attacks came almost three weeks after another PNP officer was slightly hurt in a similar incident. Supt. Benjamin Acorda and his colleague from Senegal identified as Niang Lamine were wounded by glass splinters after demonstrators opposed to UN presence in Haiti attacked their police vehicle also in Port-au-Prince on October 24.

The latest incidents are the worst outbreak of violence directed against Filipino peacekeepers since April 2005 when gangmen shot and killed Army Staff Sgt. Antonio Batomalaque during an attack on UN peacekeepers in the volatile slum area of Cite Soleil. Six months ago, another Filipino police officer, Chief Inspector Edgar Layon, was shot and wounded during a violent clash between rival factions in Timor Leste.   

The Philippine Mission said Haiti hosts approximately 200 of the 690 Filipino police and military personnel serving in UN missions worldwide. Of this number, 155 are from the Armed Forces of the Philippines who are assigned to the Force Headquarters Support Unit. The remaining 145 are from the PNP officers who are assigned as civilian police officers.