KEEPING THE PEACE. Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Charles Jose delivers the message of DFA Secretary Enrique Manalo for the Commemoration of the 76th International Day of UN Peacekeepers in Mandaluyong City on Wednesday (May 29, 2024). The Philippines has reaffirmed its interest to boost its role in the United Nations peacekeeping efforts, ramping up its campaign for a non-permanent member seat at the UN Security Council. (PNA photo by Joyce Rocamora)
MANILA – The Philippines has reaffirmed its interest to boost its role in the United Nations peacekeeping efforts, ramping up its campaign for a non-permanent member seat at the UN Security Council (UNSC).
During the Commemoration of the 76th International Day of UN Peacekeepers in Mandaluyong City on Wednesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Manila’s participation in the UN peacekeeping operations has been a “hallmark of the country’s contribution to the maintenance of global peace and defense of the international rules-based order.”
Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, in a speech read by DFA Undersecretary Charles Jose, said the Philippines is crafting and is close to finalizing a five-year roadmap on enhancing this role.
“This roadmap will streamline and enhance Philippine efforts in UN peacekeeping to better convey our country’s role as a partner, pathfinder, and peace-builder, especially as we bid to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the term 2027-2028,” he said.
Elections for the UNSC 2027-2028 term will take place in June 2026 in New York.
The Philippines was previously elected as a non-permanent member of the UNSC in 1957, 1963, 1980-1981, and 2004-2005.
It has been 61 years since the Philippines joined the UN peacekeeping operations and has so far deployed over 14,000 Filipino Blue Helmets.
Police Maj. Sancho Celedio of the Philippine National Police UN Peacekeeping Operations Center said a total of 23 peacekeepers are now in South Sudan.
“And we hope to be increasing deployment within this year,” he said in an interview. “We are expecting Haiti to be requesting deployment anytime soon.”
“We have a long storied history in peacekeeping. We have fallen heroes who perished in mission areas so we’re quite known to be really there when we’re needed most. And there’s a clamor for us to come back. What we want right now is to let them know we are here, we’re ready, we want to help,” he said.
Women in peacekeeping
The DFA, meanwhile, highlighted its commitment to promoting women inclusivity in peace and security agenda, noting how women peacekeepers can impact the resolution of conflicts.
Police Col. Pamela Helaga, one of the women peacekeepers the PNP deployed to Sudan in 2009, emphasized the need for women participation in peacekeeping missions.
“The mission of the UN is to show the community that there is no need for war. Doon ko nakita 'yong character ng babae, which is soft, para siyang nagiging model or mukha ng peace kapag pumagitna na (That's where I saw the character of a woman, which is soft, so they serve as a model or face of peace)," she said.
Helaga served as liaison officer at the UN mission in Sudan together with her husband, who was also deployed at that time.
As a mother, she said it was a tough decision to leave her four-year-old son and one-year-old daughter back then, but it was nevertheless a call she had to make not only for her duty but for the future of her children.
“Dinala natin sa mundo sila, so let us protect ‘yong mundo nilang haharapin kapag lumaki sila (We brought them into this world, so let's protect their world where they will grow up in),” she said. (PNA)
