Gwen to join in call for Suu Kyi's release

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday pledged to members of the Parliament Union of Burma to join in the campaign for the release of political prisoner and the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Aung San Suu Kyi.

The three members of the Parliament Union of Burma who participated as special observers in the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organization general assembly in Cebu City visited the governor's office with Akbayan party-list Reps. Loreta Ann Rosales and Mario Aguja.

Daw San San, secretary of the Parliament Union, briefed the governor of the recent plight of Suu Kyi.

Suu Kyi is reportedly a victim of abuses being committed by a military junta that ruled Burma for the past several years.

Suu Kyi has been detained without charges or trial for more than ten of the last 17 years.

Aguja asked the governor if she could discuss the matter with President Gloria Macapaga-Arroyo during the ASEAN Summit in December in Cebu.

Garcia, in return, expressed willingness to join the campaign to speak up for Suu Kyi and the rest of the women in Burma.

She told the parliamentarians that they are blessed to have the position that could be used in seeking justice to speak up to what is right.

The Burmese democratic parliamentarians joined Aguja and Rosales in lauding the governor's willingness to start the campaign here in Cebu on helping the people of Burma.

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus already wrote United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and members of the UN Security Council to put the situation in Burma on the formal agenda of the UN Security Council and to pass a resolution requiring the restoration of democracy in Burma.

The request also includes the adoption of a resolution calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Suu Kyi and all political prisoners in Burma.

Rosales added that Garcia's letter of support would be attached as supporting paper to their request.

She is hoping that she could get the support of other governors in the country even those who are not women.

Meanwhile, Freedom from Debt Coalition-Cebu challenges ASEAN legislators attending the ASEAN IPO general assembly to react on Singapore's clampdown on protests and banning of accredited civil society groups to the Annual and Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund World Bank on September 19-20.

This after the Department of Foreign Affairs called up the FDC national office, telling that FDC president Ana Maria Nemenzo and 18 other delegates who will fly to Singapore to join the protest are among those identified by the Singaporean government who will not be allowed entry to Singapore together with other international NGOs.

"The crackdown on civil society highlights the irony of the Bank's choice to hold its meetings in a place as repressive as Singapore while claiming to be a champion of good governance," FDC said in a statement.

"Thus, the sounds of shock and disappointment from the IMF and World Bank cannot be taken seriously."

FDC said that the IMF and World Bank are trying to shed their image as economic disciplinarians and reposition themselves as civil society-friendly and as good governance champions, but these events show how little they have changed.

"As authorities are denying public rights to freedom of speech and assembly, the World Bank is commending Singapore as the world's most business-friendly country," FDC added. - Gregg M. Rubio and Wenna A. Berondo