IT WILL be business as usual for offices and schools, not to mention roads, tomorrow after more than 260 meetings of the Asean Summit concluded last week.
The country did gain many things aside from respite from routine and curious stories about a former beauty queen removing traffic cones on Edsa to get to the fast lane and then bragging about it on social media, or about a blogger who vented her ire at a BBC reporter just because she did not land an interview with the network.
Hosting the summit was no mean feat. And for every person wanting to call attention to himself or herself there are hundreds more who worked quietly and without fanfare to ensure the event goes as seamlessly as possible.
Innumerable man hours were put into making logistical preparations for the meetings and for the delegates, and into providing leg work for the high-level, in-principle discussions made by the leaders.
As a result, gains were realized in terms of agreements or pledges: protecting and promoting rights for migrant workers, for instance; easing trade restrictions; rebuilding Marawi City; cooperating against radicalization, violent extremism and terrorism; implementing reproductive health measures; and respecting international law.
It was a balancing act, really—President Rodrigo Duterte, who had just ended our chairmanship of the Asean, no doubt had to consider multiple and sometimes conflicting concerns as he played the gracious host. For example, there were outstanding issues with regard to our territorial claims on parts of the South China Sea. There were also reminders from some attendees to respect human rights in the context of the war against drugs—at which the President bristled, expectedly.
On the whole, however, we are happy to have seen a respectable hosting stint. As the Asean chairmanship is passed on to Singapore, we hope all the things said and done in this year’s summit will contribute to the regional bloc’s development.