The Palace recently announced that Gloria Arroyo will be
leaving for the yearly summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in
Thailand starting this week with a "lean" team.
The announcement was obviously meant to preempt criticisms of
another costly presidential junket in the face of a looming economic crisis. But
this yearly meeting of Asean leaders is not the right occasion to think about
cost-saving.
Gloria could take along a planeload of specialist staffers
for this meeting and we would not begrudge her for it. Asean is the most
important international grouping to which the country belongs. For better or for
worse – for the better, we believe – the Philippines has committed to tie its
future with that of our nine other neighboring countries. While we are a long
way off from realizing the vision of an Asean economic union and political
confederation, the dream must be pursued to its realization.
In the short-term, Asean is also the venue in which the 10
members can work together in crafting a coordinated response to the global
turbulence. Asean has been criticized as a debating club. The criticism is not
without basis. It has been 10 years since the Asian financial crisis and yet the
Chiang Mai initiative remains to be fully fleshed out.
The initiative calls for the setting up of a regional fund
from which members can draw short-term stabilization financing. The world has
since moved on from the 1990s type of a credit crunch limited to a
geographically defied area and associated with over-valued currencies against
the dollar.
The leading economies are imploding because of a breakdown of
confidence in the credit system. The financial crisis has triggered a general
economic slowdown that threatens the exports and the credit access of developing
countries, including most Asean members.
Whatever Asean does probably cannot insulate the region from
the worldwide slowdown. But Asean at least has to try, and the yearly summit
(together with the Asean+ meeting with key global partners such as the United
States, European Union, Japan, China, etc.) is the venue where ideas, proposals
and concrete programs can be discussed.
