Marcos: ASEAN Summit to push through in May, to focus on oil, food, migrant workers

President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. said Friday the scheduled ASEAN Leaders' Summit in May would push through despite energy challenges brought by the Middle East conflict. 

Speaking to reporters in Laguna, Marcos said he asked his counterparts from the ASEAN member states if they want to postpone the Summit due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

''The consensus that we came to is that it is precisely now that we must coordinate our efforts,'' Marcos said.

The Summit will focus on supply of petroleum products, supply and price of food, and the state of migrant workers. 

''As I said, it will be a very bare bones summit which will focus very closely on those three subject matters, oil, food, and migrant workers,'' Marcos said.

Asked if there would be a Leaders' Summit in November, Marcos said at present, it would still push through. 

''Tentatively, tuloy pa ‘yung sa November dahil importante din ‘yun because the other world leaders will be coming here na galing sa Europe, ‘yung ating sa China, ‘yung ating ano sa Korea, sa Japan. Kailangan talagang pag-usapan lahat ng mga pangyayaring ito. So, it's going to be very a important also,'' Marcos said.

(Tentatively, the Leaders' Summit in November will push through since it's also important because other world leaders will be coming here from Europe, China, Korea, and Japan. All of these matters need to be discussed.) 

Marcos said that by September or October, he would again ask other world leaders if the Leaders' meeting would proceed. 

Batangas Representative Leandro Leviste has called on Marcos to reduce the budget for the country’s hosting of the ASEAN Summit and other related meetings this year from P22 billion to P10 billion.

The lawmaker made the call under his House Resolution 911, saying that any savings from the ASEAN budget “could be used to strengthen and expand the government’s response to rising fuel prices while also setting an example of fiscal discipline for other government agencies.”  

Executive Secretary Ralph Recto said Marcos has ordered a recalibration of the Philippines’ hosting of ASEAN 2026, scaling down non-essential bloc activities to save on expenses and ''focus on the most important.''

Recto said at least 650 preparatory meetings would be conducted online.

Recto, as ASEAN National Organizing Committee chairman, issued a memorandum to Philippine host agencies to inform all their counterparts that all preparatory meetings— from Working Group, Senior Officials to Ministerial— will now be held virtually.

He also directed the Department of Foreign Affairs to “hold diplomatic briefings to incorporate appropriate messaging and other changes with the substantive deliverables.”

“But a stripped-down ASEAN activities will still be able to achieve its goal of strengthening regional unity and forging a common response to mounting global challenges,” Recto said in a press release.

He explained that the adjustment is prompted by the reality that the ASEAN meetings ''cannot be impervious to the complex adversities that the bloc has to overcome.”

“That alone compels ASEAN 2026 to redesign how the meetings will be conducted and realign activities to the most urgent,” he said.—AOL/RSJ, GMA Integrated News