Massive information drive for ASEAN integration pushed

A lawmaker is calling for a massive information drive to ensure that the Philippines will reap the maximum benefits of integration with other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members.

In a resolution sent to the House leadership, Quezon City Rep. Winston T. Castelo said an information drive could lay down the groundwork for the path the country will take, along with its ASEAN neighbors.

“[An] aggressive and massive information drive to all sectors on the 2015 ASEAN integration will lay down the groundwork for the nation’s essential role in the ASEAN regional effort and charting its economic and development road maps.”

The ASEAN integration sets in motion the creation of an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), a single market spanning the 10-nation bloc that includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
 
The integration is envisioned to usher in a freer flow of goods, services, investment and skilled labor in Southeast Asia with trade barriers out of the way.

In his House Resolution No. 1864 filed in early February, Castelo proposed that an information drive be started, to help bring awareness to Filipinos.

“[There needs to be a] massive and aggressive information drive to be instituted by all agencies educating all stakeholders of the implications and impact of the integration on the Philippine society,” he said.

“Efficient information drive or the lack of it can either make or break the country against the emerging Asean integration,” Castelo stressed, adding that “complacency is a sure formula to failure.”

Citing a robust economic growth, sound macroeconomic fundamentals and confidence from the international community, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said last year that the Philippines is fully prepared for the AEC. —Patricia Denise Chiu/JST, GMA News