DPP visits Manila, forges stronger cooperation with LP Philippines and CALD

Among those who welcomed the delegation at the joint offices of CALD and FNF were Hon. Jun Abaya, MP, secretary general of LP, Hon. Dina Abad, former Member of Parliament and current chair of the CALD Women’s Caucus, Mr. Chito Gascon, Esq., director general of LP, Mr. Lambert Ramirez, executive director of the National Institute for Policy Studies, Ms. Argee Gallardo, deputy director for administration, Dr. Neric Acosta, secretary general of CALD, Mr. Paolo Zamora and Mr. Carlo Religioso, program officers of CALD, Mr. Siegfried Herzog, resident representative of Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) Manila Office and Mr. Narwin Espiritu, web developer of FNF-Manila.

Hon. Jun Abaya, MP, thanked Dr. Tsai and the delegation for dialogue opportunity and hoped that the collaboration between the sister-parties, LP and DPP, would further be strengthened. Dr. Acosta, the other hand, thanked DPP for all the support the party has given CALD and its secretariat. He expressed optimism that the cooperation and support of DPP would carry on this year, in spite of the very challenging times, so that initiatives and projects such as those that further strengthen CALD’s mandate of safeguarding democracies in Asia would be sustained.

Mr. Herzog gave a brief background about the tasks of the FNF Philippine office and the role that FNF play in promoting liberalism in Asia. He further added that besides looking over the regional partners in Asia, FNF also is willing to cooperate with DPP in terms of providing its officers and staff with political trainings through the FNF seminars and workshops in Germany.

The multimedia presentations of CALD and LP were shown to provide the delegation an overall view of the nature and function of the two organizations.

Dr. Tsai was thankful for the warm welcome and for arranging the presentations and the brief dialogue. According to her, she now has a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Philippines and the history of LP’s struggle for democracy. She realized that LP and DPP have gone through the same difficult path when their founders endured the sacrifices for the sake of freedom. She also said that the Philippine-Taiwan relation should be seen as more than just about trade and business. “Economic gains may not be sustainable without democracy,” she further added. Dr. Tsai is convinced that democracy in action is valuable and vital.

In closing, Mr. Gason called for a stronger and sustained partnership between DPP and LP through CALD. He also informed the delegation that the CALD secretariat and the LP headquarters are open to receive interested staff from the DPP who would like to work to promote and advance the partnerships of liberals in the region.

The DPP and LP are founding member-parties of CALD. Since CALD’s inauguration in 1993, both DPP and LP have twice presided over the CALD leadership. The DPP chaired the organization in 1995 and 2004, while LP led CALD in 1997 and 2007