This is the title of my Press Release which is the last requirement for the completion of Weeks 18-20 of the Regional Fellowship Program on Parliamentary Diplomacy (RFPPD) conducted by the Parliament Institute of Cambodia (PIC). This means that this may be my last blog under this Program.

Recently, the Diplomacy Program under the PIC has been one of my most fulfilling and challenging journey. I learned a lot and gained more friends and mentors. I couldn’t ask for more. This Program is one of God’s wonderful gifts to me. Being able to visit and stay in Cambodia particularly Phnom Penh and Siem Reap made me also appreciate the Cambodians. And interacting with my classmates made me realize that our ASEAN neighbors are great. They are my friends.

So I wish to thank again the PIC for this noble endeavor of enriching regional parliamentary capacity and including the Philippines’ Congress in one of its grantees. I would not have been enriched and empowered if not for the Philippine House of Representatives which allowed me to undertake this scholarship program. I will always be grateful for these two institutions and the commendable men and women behind them.

For this week (Week 19 of the RFPDP) we are asked to conduct a Technical Working Group meeting for a mock summit to present our country’s situationer on Access to Justice on Migrant Workers, among other topics. Then make a common policy and recommendation on the role of our parliaments to fulfill this policy.

Here is the video link of this meeting. Group 1 hopes that the presentation and determination of a common policy and recommendations are responsive to our chosen topic.

Week 18 of the Regional Fellowship Program on Parliamentary Diplomacy (RFPPD) of the Parliamentary Institute of Cambodia (PIC) has deepened to other critical issues faced by the region involving preparedness of the ASEAN countries into the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), gender equality and the access to justice for migrant workers.

I have chosen the last topic for the reason that migrant workers are the unsung heroes of the Philippines. Their plight, especially those who belong to the domestic and unskilled jobs resonate and touch the core of Philippine society. The least that could be given to them is equality and justice. The government then has the constitutional mandate to act as the parens patria (Latin word meaning parent of the nation) and thus has the inherent responsibility to protect these people who cannot protect or care for themselves. Therefore, access to justice for these migrant workers is among the top of the Philippine government’s agenda,

How is the Philippines faring in this respect? The World Bank report in 2017 is worth knowing. Moreover, a draft Policy Options Brief on the status of the Philippine Migrant Workers’ Access to Justice is hereby prepared. It is not comprehensive but attempts to provide talking points in preparation for the RFPPD fellows’ upcoming mock summit.

What has Parliamentary Diplomacy got to do with this issue and with the number of other transnational issues?

A lot. Parliaments and governments work hand in hand in the realization of sustainable development goals for the good of humanity and to prepare their citizens to the new era called the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and the usher of the Digital and Green Economy.

I chose to explore on how Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) provide the impetus to trade facilitation and innovative strategies and technology within the region and the global scene. And how they can survive in the 4IR. I found out that ASEAN and its legislative arm, the AIPA have adopted many measures to promote, develop and protect MSMEs. I believe that my parliament just needed to provide a push for a continuous review of the established regulatory regimes, evaluate their relevancy and introduce new measures that would further boost the proliferation of MSMEs in the new era. Thus the substance of my draft resolution.

I learned in my research a new term “humane entrepreneurship” which is a balance between the workers and profit and how this is more achievable among MSMEs. An important concept also this week at RFPD is that inclusion is important. To “improve innovation by integrating gender equality”. The call of women leaders is to “improve the DNA of innovation by inserting equality rights”.

Now having been made aware of this and personally convinced of this, I couched my final draft resolution in that manner. A “new DNA” indeed is necessary in the crafting of parliamentary documents and agreements. There must be balance, inclusivity and a gender equality perspective in every document. I hope my draft resolution will contribute to this end.

For Week 15 of the Diplomacy Program (Regional Parliamentary Diplomacy Program) under the Parliamentary Institute of Cambodia (PIC) of which I am privileged to be a part of as a trainee/fellow, we are taught how to prepare Resolutions for our respective parliaments.

I learned that resolutions in the sphere of international relations are formal documents which “express the positions of an International Organization by calling on its members and sometimes non-member States and other actors to adopt a certain attitude in various fields. All these recommendations are drafted in a non-binding manner; adopting broad or not specifically defined obligations or soft law.”

A resolution has two parts. The first is the preamble or the introductory clauses and the second is the operational clauses which provide for the actual proposals.

For this Week, we have been asked to make a draft of the Preamble portion. I chose the topic on Trade and Innovation as a means to fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 9 and sustain if not increase economic growth in the region.

Case Study (Week 14 of the PIC Diplomacy Program: “How does your Constitution (or your constitutional jurisprudence) address, if any, the question of the place of international law in domestic law (for example: is a treaty superior or inferior to national law)?

In answer to this question, you may click at this link.

For today’s training, here is the video I edited.

To know the steps on how to do this, you may click here. Thanks to my Instructor Tabb who has been so patient in teaching me.

In this week’s training on Parliamentary Diplomacy under the RFPPD, the Program which I mentioned in my previous blogs, the recent Shangri-La Dialogue was the focus. It is the venue where policy pronouncements from key leaders and defense ministers of Asia and the Pacific were articulated on the issue of ensuring security and stability in the region.

The fellows were asked to make a memorandum for the members of our parliaments through a narration of facts on the discussions during the Dialogue on a particular topic. We were also asked to do research on the background of the talks in terms of diplomacy, political and regional context. This is so because as we learned in Parliamentary Diplomacy in the Regional Context under Prof. Xavier Nuttin, inorder to prevent Parliament to disapprove later on the recommendations of the Executive, information and facts should have been freely given to them and deliberated upon. Informing them of relevant information and data will empower and enable them to fulfill their role of influencing policies of their respective governments.

I chose the topic on peace and security in the region as this is a timely issue particularly for the Philippines right now. In this regard, the policy statements declared by the world leaders in their speeches and expounded during the Q&A are very important. They provide context and laid down the foundation of future actions to be taken by any country in that forum.

In the Dialogue, the defense ministers particularly the US Defense Minister used the term “Indo-Pacific” instead of “Asia-Pacific” as this region is referred to in the past. Base on my research, I learned an important principle (albeit my knowledge is still raw) on how to ease tensions over a specific geography: expand the base and tilt the balance of power to the new center or in this case a new regional order. That’s what the US did when it pivoted to Asia and reimagined Asia from “Asia-Pacific” to “Indo-Pacific”. “The scale of the Indo-Pacific dilutes the ability of any one country unilaterally to shape the regional order” (Medcalf, 2017).

The US also did this when they shifted the center of global economic discussions from the G8 to G20. This happened during the Bush Administration during the financial crisis based on the premise that the “US should always be on the lookout for openings or potential paradigm-shifting events that could lead to a breakthrough in their relations” (Paulson Jr., pp. 395-396).

I first heard about this pivot to Asia by the US in the Geopolitics class of Former Ambassador Michel Foucher under the RFPPD. Amb. Foucher is a very learned political geographer and diplomat.

So how should the ASEAN deal with the US-China conflict in the Indo-Pacific region? Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong gave a very clear and wise answer to this during the Shangri-La Dialogue. In addition, the Philippines own president, His Excellency Rodrigo Roa Duterte himself during the recent ASEAN Summit in Bangkok, called on ASEAN “to be the voice of reason and moderation in the region, protecting time-honored principles of international law” .

Week 11 of the Regional Fellowship on Parliamentary Diplomacy Program (RFPPD) conducted by the Parliament Institute of Cambodia (PIC) taught me how to prepare a Memorandum of important issues to Members of Parliament. Please see my draft memorandum which highlights the peace and security issues discussed in the recently concluded IISS Shangri-La Dialogue.

Week 10 of the Regional Fellowship on Parliamentary Program on Diplomacy (RFPPD) by the Parliament Institute of Cambodia (PIC) was again another rewarding experience.

The issue on peace and security within ASEAN and beyond could not be more timely as it is now. Module 2 of the Program on research and study skills has led me to the world of defense and security. I enjoyed and learned a lot from the 18th Asia Security Summit in the ISS Shangri-La Dialogue which was held recently in Singapore. The different sources I gathered made me see events unfold in the past and how they impact the present.

The exercises also taught me how to identify a type of information source and determine the credibility of the sources. I prepared a bibliography on the pressing issue of the Indo-Pacific Peace and Security, and how this can be achieved through international cooperation by all stakeholders. I hope you will enjoy browsing the references on this important matter as I did.

Have a good day!