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THE
Philippines is set to deploy a 15-member Philippine
medical team to Burma or Myanmar this week to join a
worldwide humanitarian effort to provide relief to the
cyclone-devastated country. Executive Secretary Eduardo
Ermita said in his weekly news briefing that President
Arroyo has directed the Department of Foreign Affairs
and the Department of Health (DOH) to coordinate the
deployment of a medical team to the Southeast Asian
country, where state media reported 22,000 dead and
40,000 others missing, and as many as a million
homeless.
“I got
the information from the DOH that a 15-man team composed
of doctors and assistants [is] being prepared. This can
happen within the next 48 hours. The 15-man medical team
could be leaving for Myanmar [in 48 hours],” Ermita
said.
He said
the team will bring medicine most needed by the victims.
The
Burmese military junta has agreed to allow the entry of
humanitarian aid for victims of the cyclone. However,
international wire agencies reported that officials were
stalling on the grant of visas to aid workers from other
countries, especially from the West, which had been
critical of the junta’s human-rights record.
In an
interview with Bloomberg, Maureen Aung Thwin, director
of the Burma project of the Open Society Institute in
New York, said the junta seemed more inclined to simply
accept the aid—whether as cash or as equipment and food
aid—and keep out most of the foreign aid workers while
offering to distribute the stuff by itself.
The
Senate, meanwhile, pressed the Philippine government
Wednesday to immediately send humanitarian aid,
including deployment of a medical mission, to Burma.
On
motion of Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, the Senate
unanimously approved a resolution expressing its
sympathy to the people of Burma, also called Myanmar,
which is also a member of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (Asean).
Pimentel
pointed out that “it is incumbent upon [the Senate] to
express our sympathies to the people of
Myanmar
and urge our government to show these sympathies in a
more concrete manner.”
Taking
the Senate floor to deliver an impromptu speech on the
Burma aid resolution, Pimentel likewise prodded the
Arroyo government to express the country’s concern that
the May 10 referendum for the approval of a new
Constitution of Myanmar “should be free so that the will
of the people will be respected.”
Pimentel
made the proposal in the wake of reports that detained
Burmese icon Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition
leaders have been barred by the junta from participating
in public discussions about the issues related to the
proposed Constitution. “There is sufficient reason to
support the position of the European Union, as well as
the United Nations Security Council, that all the
political players of Myanmar should be allowed to
participate in the discussion of the issues connected
with the referendum to approve the Burma Constitution.”
He added
that while the ruling Burmese military junta should
fulfill its commitment as an Asean member to restore
democracy in Myanmar, “there is a lot of apprehension
whether this will be realized” amid reports that the
ruling junta apparently wants to make sure that a
certain number of seats in the parliament should come
from the ranks of the military.
Pimentel
allayed concerns aired by some senators that the
Philippines should refrain from intervening in the
internal political affairs of another country, arguing
that “the principle of noninterference does not hold
water when our neighbor’s house is on fire.” |
