The Philippines has set itself apart from a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution demanding the release of deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, detained since the military takeover on February 1.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said the Philippines took the same position as China, Russia, Venezuela and Bolivia “in dissociating itself” from the resolution despite joining a consensus to adopt the resolution without a vote.
In its statement to the UNHRC, the Philippines, a fellow member of Myanmar in the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said it supported the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Myanmar, but stressed that “foreign solutions whether in regional or multilateral contexts, including through this Council” should never be imposed.
The 47-member Council based in Geneva adopted unanimously without a vote the resolution brought by the United Kingdom and European Union, which called for the release of Suu Kyi and other detained officials and to allow a UN monitoring team to visit Myanmar.
Myanmar’s military takeover sparked pro-democracy protests across the landlocked since last week, defying government ban on mass gatherings.
“The Philippines has been supportive of Myanmar’s progress towards a fuller democracy, cognizant of the Army’s role in preserving its territorial integrity and national security, as well as the unifying role of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the history of the country and Army her father founded,” the Philippine statement said.
“The Lady is a deeply and widely admired icon of democracy among the Filipino people who identify with her and her people, given similar struggles against tyranny in the not distant past; struggles that culminated in the complete restoration of democracy by unprecedented and entirely domestic efforts that inspired similarly successful efforts in the rest of the Cold War world.”
It added, the full realization of Myanmar’s democratic process can only be achieved thru “complete restoration of the status quo ante.”
“Myanmar made important strides towards democratization in the past decade with the political presence of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, constitutional constraints on her key political role notwithstanding. This was clear in Myanmar’s engagement in the Universal Periodic Review last month,” the Philippine statement said.
“The Philippines will settle for nothing less than, and nothing else but the complete restoration of the status quo in which Myanmar had made so much progress.”
