Successful 12th ASEAN and 2nd East Asia Summits in Cebu

The Philippines successfully hosted the last ASEAN and East Asia summits in the famous island of Cebu.

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations approved a series of declarations on issues ranging from trade to terrorism.

Here are the main points:

* Blueprint approved for ASEAN's first legally binding charter since its founding in 1967. It would turn the 10-nation group into a European Union-style legal entity with binding rules and regulations, and end the tradition of consensus decision-making in all cases.

* Declaration approved on protecting millions of migrant workers from "grave risks of exploitation and abuse."

* Target date for establishing an ASEAN Economic Community, creating a single market of 570 million people, to be brought forward five years to 2015.

* Anti-terror convention signed to make it easier to track and extradite suspects. "Root causes" of terror should be addressed.

* Major powers urged to break the deadlock in global trade talks and move towards an early conclusion of the Doha round, to spur economic growth and alleviate poverty.

* ASEAN leaders urged international lenders to consider swapping debt for equity in projects to enable poor countries to reduce poverty.

Leaders of East Asia reaffirmed their commitment to the eradication of poverty in the region during the 2nd East Asia Summit (EAS) held at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).

The East Asian leaders also agreed to increase cooperation in securing energy supply in the region as an important pillar of their common effort to further promote the region’s economic growth, one of the fastest in the world.

All the agreements made during the summits were people-centered. It may as well be because countries participating represent around three-fourths of world population.

Some news sources say that the recent summits were the most productive in the history of the ASEAN. It should be because the summits lasted from December 2006 to January 2007 (just kidding!)

A large part of the success of the two summits may be attributed to the cooperation of Cebuanos and volunteers from other provinces, as well as the generally peaceful rallies. As noticed by many people, most members of militant groups who came to Cebu for the rallies were from Metro Manila. The police said that local protesters behaved better unlike their counterparts from Luzon who came here to join in mass demonstrations.

I’ve heard reports that some of these protesters were armed with steel bars wrapped in newspapers during one of the rallies. The intention of protesters from Manila was obviously not to have a peaceful protest in this island but to provoke the police here so there would be a scuffle to call attention to themselves.

Good thing that the presence of the Cebu City mayor during the rallies prevented any violent dispersal. The mayor also noticed that those who led the rallies were not from Cebu and that they did not have the support of Cebuanos.

After seeing how these groups carried themselves, more and more Cebuanos have a negative view of militants and leftists. Cebuanos would rather mind their business and work to feed their family. I'm glad to know that our locals have enough good sense to stay away from trouble.