CALD Secretariat joins Philippine Senate Hearing on Burma

The CALD Secretariat was represented by Program Officers Brian Gonzales and Andrea Yang.

During the Manila visit of the National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB) last September, which was organized by CALD and the Liberal Party of the Philippines,  the delegation paid a courtesy call to Senator Santiago who readily agreed to support the cause of Burma’s freedom and democratization.

Santiago asks Myanmar to free opposition leader

By Ma. Theresa Torres, Reporter 

(from the Manila Times, February 22, 2005)

The NCUB delegation  with Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago (3R), John Coronel (2L) and CALD Program Officer Andrea Yang (L). 

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said on Monday that Myanmar must not assume the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (Asean) in 2006 unless it frees the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

 

Santiago, chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said Myanmar, before heading Asean, must allow Suu Kyi’s political party to participate in the country’s political process. She has filed a resolution seeking to express the Senate’s sentiment against Myanmar’s ascendancy in the Asean unless these conditions are met.

 

Santiago had attended a Malacanang luncheon in honor of visiting Myanmar Prime Minister Soe Win before filing the Senate resolution.

 

In a speech before a lunch meeting with President Arroyo, Soe Win said a “road map for democratization” was being implemented to transform the country into a “disciplined democratic nation.”

 

“The national convention, in which all the nationalities in the country and all strata of society are represented, resumed four days ago,” Soe Win said.

 

The Philippines for its part said it believes in “constructive engagement” with Myanmar, a fellow member of the 10-nation Asean.

 

The National League for Democracy (NLD) is boycotting the constitutional convention to protest the detention of their leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

 

The NLD won a landslide victory in elections in 1990 but has never been allowed to take power.

 

“The release of Aung San Suu Kyi by the government of Myanmar is a golden opportunity to demonstrate its renewed commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights,” Santiago said.

 

Myanmar has ignored international calls to free the opposition leader. The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said last week that the junta should make the constitution-drafting process, including a proposed referendum, “transparent and inclusive.”

 

Annan said the absence of the NLD and other parties in the process was regrettable.

 

Soe Win said Myanmar realizes that it must work closely with its neighbors in the region, but cooperation should not “diminish national identities but enhance political and economic strength.”

 

Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The grouping, which Myanmar is due to chair in 2006, has a policy of not interfering with each other’s internal affairs.

 

Mrs. Arroyo would tell Soe Win that the Philippines does not agree with calls for sanctions against his country, according to a discussion paper released by Malacanang aides.

 

“The Philippines wishes to engage with Myanmar in economic matters,” the paper said. It said Manila would like to “find a way to reconcile Myanmar’s situation with the demand of the rest of the world.”

 

The Philippines is seeking to expand trade cooperation in the furniture and construction industries, among other sectors.

 

Soe Win took over as prime minister in 2004 after former PM Khin Nyunt was sacked for corruption.

 

His visit here, his first as prime minister, is aimed at expanding bilateral and trade relations.

 

–With Efren Danao and AFP report