Security issues cannot be ignored even amid pandemic, Locsin tells ASEAN

Security concerns cannot be ignored even as nations grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. told Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders in a regional forum.

Locsin joined the 27th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) held through a video conference last September 12, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement.

“I remind colleagues that this kind of terrorism threatens everyone in the Association. It will be tempting to pass on the threat; but its very exportability makes this terrorism as easily importable as happened in Marawi,” he said.

“Nor is one country turning its back on another’s terrorist problem an option. As terrorism grows in one, the threat of it increases in others,” Locsin added.

The southern Philippine island of Mindanao was recently rocked by twin bombings that claimed 15 lives and injured several others. 

The DFA said that the ARF allows participating countries to discuss political and security issues of common interest and concern, such as efforts against terrorism and transnational crimes.

Locsin also vowed that the Philippines will “push as hard as it can for the conclusion of an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the South China Sea” as the Country Coordinator for ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations.

The Ministers of ARF participants also adopted several documents and statements during the forum, including the ARF Statement on Enhancing Cooperation to Prevent and Respond to Infectious Disease Outbreaks and ARF Statement on the Treatment of Children Recruited and Associated with Terrorist and Violent Extremist Groups.—LDF, GMA News