SEN. Miriam Defensor Santiago, chair of the
Senate committee on foreign affairs, yesterday said the
committee report recommending Senate ratification of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations charter is being
circulated for signature and will be ready next month.
She said she expects the Senate to ratify the
charter before the end of the year and if all 10 Asean
member-states do likewise by December, the charter will be in
force in 2009.
"Thus, Asean will ratify its constitution
even ahead of the European Union, whose charter was rejected by
two countries," Santiago said.
"It was the Philippines that first proposed
the Asean charter in the 1970s. To be consistent, the Senate
should concur. The Asean charter is a treaty and is therefore
binding," she said.
Santiago said that although the Asean charter
includes the principle of non-interference in the internal
affairs of member-states, it will speak out on humanitarian
issues such as the continued house arrest by the ruling military
junta in Myanmar against opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"The charter also enshrines the so-called
Asean Way of settling differences, meaning consultation and
consensus. This is the basic decision-making principle in Asean,"
she said. "The main tangible result of the charter will be the
creation of an Asean Economic Community. This means the creation
of a single market and product base. In the Asean Economic
Community, there will be free flow of goods, services,
investments, and capital. It will also facilitate movement of
business persons, professionals, talents, and labor."
The charter provision for the creation of an
Asean Economic Community is a direct result of the Asean
Economic Community blueprint signed in Cebu last year.
"The emergence of China and India as economic
powers has created new realities for Asean. The Asean Economic
Community will keep the Philippines competitive alongside these
two Asian giants. The Asean Economic Community will be
established by 2015," Santiago said.
Critics of the charter and those who want Suu
Kyi released contend that the charter should carry stronger
provisions than those it has now which only call for the
creation of a human rights body.
"At this point, there is no clear definition of what the
human rights body is authorized to do. This human rights body
was the initiative of the Philippines and therefore, on the part
of the Philippines, there could be no accusation that the
charter will be a paper tiger because the Philippines fought
very bravely to include this provision in the charter. It is
incumbent now on these Asean members to establish this human
rights body and go after the Myanmar issue," Santiago said. –
JP Lopez
