SENATE President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Monday commended the Duterte administration for pushing a “strong and resilient” Association of Southeast Asian Nations after the Philippines assumed the chairmanship of the 10-nation regional bloc on Sunday.
The Senate leader made the remark after Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay said Asean is poised to become one of the world’s largest economies in three decades despite challenges.
Pimentel said he would support the President’s priorities to promote regional peace and stability and pursue maritime security.
“These are key issues that the Asean must continually strive to maintain. He has articulated what the Asean could do to its citizens in this time of great change. It is to ensure stability and security, which will enhance opportunities of its citizens for a better life,” Pimentel said in a statement.
“The regional bloc is focused on growth and centered on Asean citizens. Nothing could be more important to the Asean in a region that is the most economically dynamic in the world,” Pimentel said.
The President’s statement that life in the Asean has broken the “bonds of dependence and ignorance” enhances its founding spirit to become a vehicle for peace and progress, the senator from Mindanao said.
Asean turns 50 this year, coinciding with the Philippine chairmanship of the alliance months after Duterte announced that he would chart an independent foreign policy.
Its theme, “Partnering for Change, Engaging the World,” perfectly highlights the Philippines’ enhanced role in the region, said Pimentel, who is also the president of the administration party Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).
He said the leadership of both chambers of Congress has already identified priority measures aimed at improving people’s lives and enhancing Philippine role in the Asean.
Among the non-controversial bills are the provisions of free tuition in state universities and colleges, free irrigation for farmers, universal health insurance coverage and nutritious meals for students in public elementary schools.
Yasay, for his part, said the Philippines assumes the leadership of the bloc as Asean gears to become one of the world’s largest economies within 30 years.
“Asean success has been unprecedented… The once fragmented economies now form part of a thriving robust community projected to become the world’s fourth largest by 2050,” Yasay said at the launching of the Asean Summit 2017 in Davao City.
Yasay is optimistic that Asean members will overcome various challenges facing the region, such as new concerns of security threats.
“[These challenges] make our job not less complex, not less easy or not less difficult. And yet, we are now better prepared to embrace disruptive events that threaten the peace and security of the region with our solid and unbreakable alliance because we as a region, as Asean, are committed to ride and surmount the quest of that wave called change, the Asean way,” he said.
Yasay said Asean is an economic powerhouse with gross domestic product now the third largest in Asia and the seventh largest in the world. The region has attracted around $120 billion in foreign direct investments.
Asean groups 10 countries—Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.