The Chinese connection

Astute journalists have a nose for likely news-breaking events. So I was not surprised to chance upon Abby Tan, former (or still) correspondent of Washington Post when she accompanied Lewis Simons who came to interview Speaker JDV in his office recently. Both Ms. Tan and Mr. Simons were on the spot when they unearthed the Marcos millions for which they won the Pulitzer prize.

Simons is the author of books on the Philippines, People Power and Worth Dying For in which he narrates and analyses events which led to Ninoy’s assassination and later to EDSA 1. He has made the Philippines one of his beats and sought an interview with the Speaker. As Abby said later to me, recent developments in the region may be changing the power configuration in the region. Asia watchers think America is losing interest in the region on one hand while China’s power and involvement in the region grows on the other. Analysts are on the prowl just how this could affect the US-driven campaign against terrorism.

Speaker JDV is perceived as an active player in the changing geopolitics of the region. He has been working hard on strengthening ASEAN as well as looking to China for investments to the Philippines. The Philippines has the fastest-growing trade with China among all ASEAN states with trade between the two countries projected this year to reach a whopping $23 billion. It is poised to surpass Philippine trade with the United States and Japan.

Recently, a group of high-level Chinese officials and businessmen were in Manila to discuss trade and investments. The speaker made a five-point proposal that was well received by the group. He asked China: to help build a million houses and establish factories for the project. "The one million houses project will also include 100,000 new schoolhouses nationwide, "he said. He is optimistic that once the project is underway, it will spur economic activity and development that will reach the great masses of our people.

He also asked the Chinese to increase China’s tourist arrivals, expand its participation in the railways modernization program, boost farm production of Chinese-bred hybrid rice and corn varieties, and create a large Chinese industrial park in Clark to house its manufacturing plants and small and medium companies.

JDV said his proposals are the major components of President GMA’s 10-point legacy program to advance the country’s anti-poverty program. With China’s enthusiasm for an active partnership for Philippine development, this program can be implemented.

He laid out a five-point proposal at the opening of the first- Philippines-China Economic Partnership Forum in Manila. President GMA, former President Fidel Ramos also witnessed the signing of the 10-point framework agreement for economic partnership between China and the Philippines. Minister Bo Xilai signed for China, while Favila and Neri signed for the Philippines. President GMA called the RP-China new partnership a "golden age" in bilateral relations. Also in the works is the tri-nation seismic test among China, the Philippines and Vietnam enabling a joint exploration for hydrocarbon resources in the contested islets in the South China Sea.

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There may be more than meets the eye in the postponement of President GMA’s trip to Libya. Reliable sources told this column that the Libyans are unhappy that Tripoli is being treated like a stopover. The high points of the presidential trip are visits to Italy and Spain where she is expected to meet with Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican and Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. In Spain she will hold talks with King Juan Carlos III and President Jose Luis Zapatero.

That impression has to be corrected because Libya is an important connection to the Philippines especially on the development of Mindanao and the Muslim conflict in general. Unknown to many, Libya, which is fast democratizing, has been in the forefront of poverty alleviation and educational programs for Filipino Muslims. Most active in the implementation of such programs is WICS (the World Islamic Call Society) headed in Manila by Engineer Gamal Ahmed. Recently it committed to support the printing of madrasah books on Arabic language and Islamic values. The curriculum of the classes will be geared toward building peace and understanding.

Libya has many times come to the aid of the Philippines in its efforts to achieve peace in Mindanao. This would have been an excellent opportunity to strengthen links with this North African country straddling both the Middle East and the African continent.

With the democratic stirrings in that country encouraged by Western-educated and heir-apparent Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, (UK Prime Minister Blair recently visited), the Philippines could have scored an important diplomatic coup by putting the Libyan visit on top of the presidential journey if only to show the country’s appreciation for Libya’s continuing help and interest in our Muslim problem.

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Recently, I had the opportunity to meet up with Supreme Court justices, but, alas, I had to keep my mouth firmly shut on the Santiago vs. Comelec or anything to do with people’s initiatives or enabling laws. I was there simply to witness a project that my husband, Amb. Alberto Pedrosa had helped put together — an electronic database of all treaties entered into by the Philippines from 1898 to 2005.

The project is a partnership between the Supreme Court, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Philippine Ambassadors Foundation. The Supreme Court will scan the text of such treaties while the source documents will come from the DFA. The Philippine Ambassadors Foundation will contribute the structure of the database and encoding. The project makes it now possible for anyone who has access rights, anywhere in the world to use the database. Justice Antonio Carpio demonstrated how such a database can be interrogated, using a powerful search engine. It is expected to be online by the end of 2006. The signing of the memorandum of understanding was witnessed by Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alberto Romulo and Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban. Former Amb. Macario Laurel gave the opening remarks. Foreign ambassadors as well as justices from appellate courts were also present.

Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban later played host and tour guide to the ambassadors and other guests. Merienda was served in the justices’ dining room which was adjacent the impressive conference room where the justices study and debate legal issues before them. I have been to the House of Representatives and the Senate but this was the first time I have ever been to the inner sanctum of the Supreme Court where decisions that bear on the fate the country are decided so it was an experience worth recording.

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My e-mail is [email protected]