ASEAN Summit a glitzy affair that didn’t tackle region’s problems — opposition solons

Opposition lawmakers from the House of Representatives on Wednesday expressed disappointment over the 31st ASEAN Summit and Related Meetings held in the Philippines, saying that important issues hounding the region were barely discussed, if at all.

In a message to reporters, Akbayan party-list Representative Tom Villarin argued that the ASEAN Summit, attended by leaders of member-states and dialogue partners, was a "failed" public relations stint only aimed at projecting the Duterte administration as the head of the regional bloc.

"While it dazzled in panoramic glitz hosting world leaders, what was starkly left out was the region’s poverty, environmental crisis, border conflicts and human trafficking, human rights abuses including a genocide being committed in Rohingya and mass murder in a war against illegal drugs in Manila, the host capital," he said.

Villarin said the signing of an agreement seeking to protect the rights of migrant workers was, for him, the only major achievement of the summit.

However, he lamented that the ASEAN's "non-interference principle" seems consistently applied to the socio-political rights of the people in the region, but not to free trade of economic goods and services.

Villarin said it must have been the "ASEAN way" not to discuss human rights issues and people's welfare.

"Sovereignty issues like our claims over the West Philippine Sea are swept under the rug so as not to antagonize a bully in the region, China, from which we want to get an economic bonanza," he said.

"At the end of the day, we spent P15 billion for us to look stupid parading the ‘emperor’s new clothes.’ It that wants us to feel high but was but a mere hallucination of grandeur," he added.

Ifugao Representative Teddy Baguilat shared Villarin's statement, saying that the government spent billions of taxpayer's money only to host a "monstrous, glitzy photo ops and social gathering."

"I don't recall any major and significant regional agreement drafted or approved by the bloc. It's all just handshakes and safe rhetoric," he said.

Baguilat said that despite threats and the shrinking avenue for political dissent, ASEAN chose to ignore its mandate of promoting the rights of the people in the region.

"It's contented being a rich kids fraternity that believes in the motto see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil," he said.

For his part, Magdalo party-list Representative Gary Alejano expressed concern about the lack of discussion on the territorial dispute on the South China Sea (SCS) and the human rights violations related to the Philippines' war on drugs.

"The ASEAN as a block has long been expected to confront the SCS squarely and come up with a binding code of conduct among the claimant states particularly China. But as have been in the past, the ASEAN voice was muted especially when the ASEAN Chair Rodrigo Duterte said that the issue is better left untouched," he said.

"The Philippines is the latest addition to China's purse which further weaken the unity of ASEAN as a block to tackle regional issues affecting China's interests," he said.

At the same time, he lamented the ASEAN leaders' move to adopt a "diplomatic silence" on human rights violations and extrajudicial killings that have cropped up from the Duterte administration's campaign against illegal drugs.

"It's frustrating that they opted for silence than confront the issue. Thanks to Justin Trudeau of Canada and Jacinda Arden of New Zealand and to some extent Donald Trump of US for voicing their concern on the issue," he said. — BM, GMA News