MANILA, (PNA) — The Aquino government led the entire Filipino nation in lauding the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for winning the Nobel Peace Prize for 2013, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio ‘Sonny’ Coloma, Jr. said on Sunday, considering that a Filipino is head for inspector training of the UN-backed group.
In an interview aired over government-run radio station DzRB Radyo ng Bayan on Sunday, Coloma said the government congratulated the OPCW whose one of the officers is a Filipino.
Franz Ontal, 49, head of inspector training of OPCW, grew up in Victorias City, Negros Occidental. In 2005, he joined the OPCW as a medic for the chemical weapons inspector and disposal teams. He was promoted as head of inspector training, a position he still holds.
“May dahilang magbunyi ang buong bansa sa paggawad ng 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. Kabilang si Ginoong Franz Ontal ng Victorias City, Negros Occidental sa pangkat ng Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons na itinanghal bilang Nobel Peace Prize Winner sa taong ito,” Coloma said.
“Tulad ng libu-libong overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), sinasalamin ni Ginoong Ontal ang kanilang bukod tanging husay, galing, at kasipagan kaya kinikilala natin sila bilang mga bayani ng bayan,” he said.
“Bilang head ng inspector training ng OPCW, mahalaga ang papel na ginagampanan niya at ng kanyang organisasyon sa pagtupad sa puspusang kampanya ng United Nations na pigilin ang paggamit ng mga sandatang kemikal laban sa mga mamamayang apektado ng digmaan at karahasan,” Coloma stressed.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee honored the Hague, Netherlands-based global chemical watchdog OPCW “for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons.”
The OPCW is the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention, the first international treaty to outlaw an entire class of chemical weapons.
The OPCW, formed in 1997, currently has a team on the ground in Syria to destroy President Bashar al-Assad’s reported stockpile of chemical weapons.
In its citation, the Nobel committee said the organization and the treaty under which it was founded in 1997 “have defined the use of chemical weapons as a taboo under international law.”
“Recent events in Syria, where chemical weapons have again been put to use, have underlined the need to enhance the efforts to do away with such weapons,” the citation said.