ASEAN expected to adopt, raise PH-led initiatives during summit

FILE: Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Acting Spokesperson Robespierre Bolivar said some major Philippine-led initiatives are expected for adoption during the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits this week. (Photo by Rob Nguyen/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

MANILA — Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Acting Spokesperson Robespierre Bolivar said some major Philippine-led initiatives are expected for adoption during the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits this week.

“We want to have a consensus document, at some point it’s a regional document, its no longer a national document,” he said. “But definitely, many of these documents will heel closely to the six thematic priorities of the Philippine chairmanship,” he told reporters at the ASEAN International Media Center in the World Trade Center, Pasay City on Friday.

He said there are about 50 outcome documents for this summit alone. “All of these are not going to be signed or issued by the leaders, it’s a combination of outcome documents, which the leaders will sign or issue or will note because they have been adopted by the ministers in the previous meetings.”

While most adhere to the Philippines’ priorities as chairman, Bolivar noted that these outcome documents must be treated as region-led instruments.

The leaders will be signing the ASEAN Consensus on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers during the summit, a centerpiece of the country’s chairmanship.

In a separate interview, the official said: “Ten years ago, when we last chaired ASEAN, we proposed for the ASEAN to conclude a legal instrument in the protection of migrant workers.”

Bolivar explained that before it was approved, the bloc faced time constraints to finish the document.

“Marami tayong mga initiatives that we believe are hinog na, the time is right to happen and it is for the Philippines to unveil them, to release them, to have them approved by the leaders during our chairmanship,” he said.

He also mentioned the continuing progress on the creation of a binding pact in the South China Sea following the adoption of the Declaration of Conduct in 2002 and the agreement on the Guidelines for the Implementation of the DOC in 2011.

“Finally, we are expecting the leaders on the ASEAN-China summit to announce the start of negotiation for the code of conduct based on the framework which the ministers approved last Aug. 2017,” he said.

Bolivar bared that this is among the country-led initiatives expected to surface in ASEAN, first proposed in 1998. “We were the ones to propose having the COC, then in 2002 we also steered it,’’ he stressed.

“We wanted a binding instrument kaso at that time, iba yung strategic environment so we had to compromise for the declaration of principles. So ngayon, this is the actual code of conduct. This is our initiative bearing fruit now,” he said.