(12 May 2013)
1. Wide of Major Ramon Zagala talking to journalist
2. Mid of Zagala
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Major Ramon Zagala, public affairs officer, Armed Forces of the Philippines:
"There are four Filipino peacekeepers who were released by their Syrian captors and are now in the custody of their Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Nolie Arquillano. They are presently in Position 86, the Golan Heights, and will be proceeding to Camp Ziuoani for medical check-up and debriefing."
4. Mid of Zagala talking
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Major Ramon Zagala, public affairs officer, Armed Forces of the Philippines:
"The AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) is elated (about) the safe release of the four peacekeepers. We join their family in this joyous occasion that our peacekeepers are now safe."
6. Various of general headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
STORYLINE:
A spokesman for the Philippines armed forces welcomed the release on Sunday of four United Nations peacekeepers abducted last week by Syrian rebels.
The Filipino peacekeepers are apparently unharmed, but will undergo a medical check-up and debriefing, Major Ramon Zagala said.
"The AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) is elated about the safe release of the four peacekeepers," he told reporters. "We join their family in this joyous occasion that our peacekeepers are now safe."
Syrian rebels seized the four peacekeepers along the UN-patrolled demarcation line separating the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria on Tuesday - just two months after 21 Filipino peacekeepers were abducted and held for three days by the rebels in the same area.
Heightened violence in the area in recent months has sparked worries that the UN mission could withdraw.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario has said he will recommend that President Benigno Aquino III order the pullout of all Filipino UN peacekeepers from the Golan Heights.


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