Philippines to send 336 peace-keeping troops to Syria

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. Monday said Manila will send a 336-strong peacekeeping battalion to the Golan Heights in Syria.

Teodoro, who returned from a visit to the United States, told reporters at the airport that he assured UN Undersecretary for Peacekeeping Alain Le Roy in New York of Philippines' un-swerved commitment to the UN peace-keeping missions.

"Despite our own constraints and requirements, we can be expected to continue to fulfill our obligations as a responsible and reliable troop-contributing country," the defense chief said.

He said the first batch of Filipino troops to the Golan Heights will leave Manila at the end of this month. The entire contingent is expected to be on the ground and take over the peacekeeping responsibilities of the Polish Battalion in the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) mission area before the end of October.

The Philippines sent its first UN peacekeeping forces to Congo in the 1960s. Since then, Manila has contributed military and police personnel to UN missions in Cambodia, Burundi, Georgia, Haiti, Iraq, Kosovo and Nepal, the Department of Defense said in a statement.

At present, the Philippines is the 29th largest troop contributor to UN peace operations with a total of 611 Filipino peacekeepers, made up of 295 troops, 22 military observers and 294police officers serving in Afghanistan, Cote d' Ivoire, Darfur, Haiti, Liberia, Sudan and Timor Leste, it said.