8th batch off to Timor

A 604-member Filipino contingent, composed of soldiers, doctors, nurses and engineers from the Army, Navy and Air Force, leaves today for East Timor to help in international peacekeeping operations there.

The group, headed by Lt. Col. Noel Coballes, is the eighth Philippine batch to the former Indonesian province.

Army chief Lt. Gen. Jaime de los Santos, who once served as commander of the United Nations peacekeeping force in East Timor, will lead the send-off ceremony.

The contingent will assist the civilian component of the United Nations Transitional Administration for East Timor (UNTAET) until December. — Paolo Romero