South China Sea, trade cooperation top agenda in 31st Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum

The issue in the South China Sea and trade cooperation among member-states will headline the 31st Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) which will be hosted by the Philippines from November 23 to 25, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said Wednesday.

Zubiri, who leads the Senate in organizing the event, said some member-countries of the APPF, like Indonesia, have already filed draft resolutions seeking peace and stability in the South China Sea, portions of which the Philippines refers to as West Philippine Sea.

The 325 expected delegates in the APPF will hold plenary meetings on the SCS issue and will discuss it extensively in break out committees.

Since China will be sending delegates from their parliament, Zubiri said the issue will be discussed “as diplomatically as possible” so the member-countries can come up with a consensus.

“As hosts, kasi kasama din ang China [since China will be attending], they'll be sending a delegation, ayaw naman nating magkakagulo [we don’t want any trouble]. We’re trying to promote peace and stability and we’d like to make that the general theme of this conference. Ayaw naman namin na agad-agad na on battle mode agad ang Pilipinas [We don’t want the Philippines be on battle mode right away]. We should be good hosts and as good hosts, we will discuss diplomatic level issues that  [are] surrounding our region,” Zubiri said at a press conference on the eve of the opening of the APPF.

Although the Senate previously sent a strong message on the incursions of China in the WPS, Zubiri said the Philippine delegates will “try to tone down” their position.

"We have to tone it down. Tayo ang host, it’s an international forum. So kailangan dito walang bastusan...Ayaw naman nating aalis yung mga miyembro ng APPF sa Pilipinas with a sour taste in their mouth... Ang gusto po natin magkaisa tayong lahat. So we'll try to tone down,” Zubiri said.

[We have to tone it down. We are the host, it’s and international forum. So there shouldn't be any rudeness. We don’t want APPF members leaving the Philippines with a sour taste in their mouth. We all want to be united. So we’ll try to tone down.]

Despite this, Zubiri said the position of the Philippines will be the same on the issue of the WPS.

“The position of the Philippines will always be the same. As the President said, we will not cede one inch of Philippine territory to anyone. At the same time, we are also a friend to all and enemy to none. So we just have to make sure na for this forum na hindi naman magkakaron ng bakbakan [there won't be any trouble],” he said.

With the recent Senate’s concurrence of the Philippine ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Zubiri also said that trade cooperation will also be among the top agenda of the APPF.

“That is number one, in the advent of RCEP. Di ba kakapasa lang natin ng RCEP within ASEAN and several other countries like Korea, Japan, China. So definitely we will weigh in heavily on trade discussions,” Zubiri said.

The Philippines is one of the APPF founding members and it will be hosting the APFF delegates for the second time.

Expected to attend the international forum are 18 countries, namely Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mexico, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Russian Federation, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Close to 300 participants from the said countries are expected to participate in the forum, including heads of parliaments of Thailand and Malaysia.

The Philippine delegation will be led by Senator Ronald dela Rosa and Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News