ASEAN Perspectives

Sustainable resource management promotion urged to promote 17 SGDs

Caesar Vallejos EBC Correspondent With the theme “Empowering Sustainable Convergence”, the ASEAN Corporate Sustainability Summit and Awards (ACSSA) held at the Manila Marriott Grand Ballroom Hotel last July 21, 2016 urged industry leaders, sustainability practitioners, civil society partners, regional regulators, public sector leaders and aid agencies to converge and become more involved in sustainable development. One of the event’s speakers, David Young, Chief Operations Officer of impact investing technology company ADEC Innovations, focused on the […]

PHL-Vietnam celebrates 40th Anniversary of bilateral relations

MANILA, Philippines (Eagle News) — Philippines and Vietnam celebrated its 40th year of bilateral relations last July 12. Diplomatic relations between the two sides started to blossom in July 1976, a year after the reunification of north and South Vietnam, upon the signing of a joint communique by then Philippine Foreign Minister Carlos P. Romulo and Vietnamese vice Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs Phan Hien.

State councilor: South China Sea arbitration will not shake China’s resolve to pursue path of peaceful development

Eagle News — Chinese state councilor Yang Jiechi said that the South China Sea arbitration will not “in the slightest way” shake china’s resolve to pursue the path of peaceful development. He said, china adheres to negotiation and consultation as a means for addressing relevant territorial and maritime delimitation issues, and resolutely safeguards peace and stability in the region. The South China Sea, important to the Chinese people since ancient times, is our heritage to […]

Grey zone: who will care for Thailand’s elderly?

by Sally Mairs BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — As he wheels his 77-year-old aunt away from Bangkok’s first day centre for the elderly, Nakhon reflects on the familial duties that oblige him to juggle night-shift work and care for his ageing relative. It is an increasingly common predicament in rapidly greying Thailand, where a demographic shift is straining social mores and threatening upheaval for the economy. https://youtu.be/M6Ey8wLfYH4   “She raised me when I was little so now […]

PHL Agriculture policy directions on Agriculture in the context of the ASEAN Community

PHL Agriculture policy directions on Agriculture in the context of the ASEAN Community (Eagle News) — The Philippine agriculture sector is the country’s largest single employer, even as the government looks to the development of other modern industries. It directly employs more than one-quarter of all workers in non-services industries.   More than 11 million Filipinos relied on agriculture for their livelihood in 2013, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. But ironically, despite accounting for […]

What the ASEAN youth think about the Philippine elections

A representative of the ASEAN Youth Leaders’ Association, Danille Fitzgerald Soria, talks about the ASEAN youth’s take on the May 9 presidential elections in the Philippines, and other issues facing the next Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte. One of the hosts of ASEAN in Focus, Rachel Martin, interviews Soria in this episode of the program aired in May 2016, a few weeks after the elections.   Part 1: Part 2: Part 3:

Singapore blocking Internet access on government computers

SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Singapore confirmed Wednesday it would cut off Internet access for government work stations within a year for security reasons, a surprise move in one of the world’s most wired countries. The decision will not disrupt government operations, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) said after local daily The Straits Times reported that some 100,000 computers would be affected. “We have started to separate Internet access from the work stations of a selected […]

The Foreign Service Institute and the ASEAN Community

The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and was formally established under Presidential Decree 1060 on 9 December 1976. With the Promulgation of Republic Act (RA) 7157, or the Philippine Foreign Service Act of 1991, the mandate of the institute was revitalized and expanded. “The institute, through its academic, training, research, information, publication, systems development and other programs, shall serve as the center for the development and professionalization of […]

President Putin ensures Russia’s commitment to cement ASEAN-Russia cooperation

Speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin during the press conference following the ASEAN-Russia Summit in Sochi, Russia Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, Russia and ASEAN are marking the 20th anniversary of their dialogue partnership this year. This anniversary is a good opportunity to look back over what we have accomplished up until now and outline the steps for taking our cooperation further. This was the objective of all the programme events of the summit that has just ended. Let me say that this […]

Making peace with the Bangsamoro Basic Law

By Teresa Jopson, ANU Courtesy East Asia Forum — Securing a lasting peace in the southern Philippines has been an ongoing problem for the Philippine government. Marginalised Moros in the southern Philippines have legitimate grievances against the Philippine government. This much the Philippine government has recognised in signing peace agreements, most recently with the insurgent group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).   Muslim indigenous peoples or Moros have organised themselves and fought in a war that has […]

The relevance of the INC vote in Philippine elections

    (Eagle News) — The May 9, 2016 elections would define the direction that the Philippines would take as the ASEAN community becomes a force to reckon with in the global community. The complex issues facing the next president would need somebody tough, intelligent, and clear on his direction that would make the Philippines as a lead nation in the ASEAN community. In this part 4 of the  May 7 episode of ASEAN in […]

The US-Philippine relations and the “Duterte phenomenon” in Philippine elections

  Why is presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor such a phenomenon in the May 9 elections. In this part 3 of the May 7, 2016 episode of ASEAN in Focus weekend, two political experts tackle this and the importance of the having good foreign relations with the international community, particularly the United States. ASEAN in Focus resident resource person Dr. Carlos Tabunda Jr., an executive fellow of the Development Academy of the Philippines, interviews […]