MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has the support of 16 members in the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) in its bid for a nonpermanent seat in the UN Security Council (UNSC) for term 2027-2028, according to Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri.
In a press conference yesterday, Zubiri said this was a result of the country’s diplomatic talks with participants of the APPF’s 31st Annual Meeting held Thursday until Saturday at the Philippine International Convention Center.
The Philippines is seeking a nonpermanent seat at the UNSC, the UN’s main organ on maintaining peace and security, that is composed of 15 members.
The UNSC has China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States as permanent members, and 10 other countries considered nonpermanent members with two-year terms - Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Gabon, Ghana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Switzerland and United Arab Emirates.
Zubiri said he could not disclose the names of the countries in the APPF which backed the Philippines’ candidacy for nonpermanent seat.
“We don’t want to telegraph our punches,” Zubiri said in the briefing held at the PICC ahead of the forum.
Speaker Martin Romualdez added that the Philippines is reaping the gains of hosting this year’s meeting of the APPF with more member states backing its UNSC candidature.
“This forum is paying off dividends,” Romualdez said.