Palace wants ASEAN charter ratified but won’t rush Senate
By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 18:24:00 07/21/2008
Filed Under: ASEAN
MANILA, Philippines -- With Myanmar ratifying the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) charter, Malacañang on Monday expressed her desire for the Philippines to follow suit, but stressed it would not rush the Senate into doing so.
"That [ASEAN charter] is [a] work in progress as you know very well. It's in the Senate as required, so we hope that we can also get that ratification. But, as you know very well, it is the Senate that makes that determination, so we will wait for the official action of the proper body that is supposed to act on that," Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said Monday.
Dureza said that while Malacañang wants the Senate to act fast on the ASEAN charter, it is not setting a deadline on the senators and that "it is best to wait."
"Of course, we would wish that it is ratified as…fast as possible, but again, it is the Senate that determines its own pace, so let it be," he said in a phone patch interview.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo earlier created an interagency task force to work on the Senate the ratification of the regional bloc’s charter.
The ASEAN charter gives legal personality to the 10-nation bloc of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, as a single intergovernmental organization.
Arroyo signed Administrative Order No. 229 last June 18, 2009 to expedite the ratification of the charter by the Senate in concurrence with Executive Order No. 459, series of 1997, "providing for the guidelines in the negotiation of international agreements and its ratification."
The charter task force will, among others, coordinate with other agencies of government in securing the information required for Senate concurrence on the ratification of the ASEAN charter; organize the resource documents pertinent to the Senate hearings on the ASEAN charter; attend the hearings on the ASEAN charter in the Philippine Senate; and, perform such other functions as may be directed by the President.
Military-ruled Myanmar on Monday formally ratified the ASEAN charter, which commits Southeast Asian nations to notions of democracy and human rights.
This leaves Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines the remaining members of the 10-nation bloc which have yet to ratify the charter.
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