RP to have bilateral talks with 8 countries

HANOI, Vietnam – President Aquino is slated to hold bilateral talks here with eight countries including China, with which the Philippines is trying to mend ties, ruptured by the Aug. 23 bloody hostage drama in Rizal Park.

Secretary Ricky Carandang of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office revealed this to reporters upon the President’s arrival here, after a brief flight from Ho Chi Minh City.

“There are many agreements coming into force. 2010 is the year that many of our free trade agreements are coming into place. So maraming pagbabago ngayon sa (there are many changes in) ASEAN,” he told reporters at the Grand Plaza Hotel.

Aside from China, he said the President would also be having bilateral talks with leaders of Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Brunei and Russia.

“There will be at least an ASEAN-China meeting. So there will be some discussions about the ASEAN-China related issues, like the Kalayaan islands (Spratlys) and all of that,” Carandang said.

Mr. Aquino was expected to sign four agreements with Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet – including one on disaster preparedness.

“We have common problems, and they (Vietnam) are one of our closest neighbors. There are really areas that overlap especially on global climate change,” he said.  

While China, through its ambassador to Manila Liu Jianchao, had already expressed its satisfaction with the outcome of the Philippines investigation into the hostage incident, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Chief Executive Donald Tsang had expressed disappointment.

The Philippines has yet to send its promised high-level delegation to China, to be led by Vice President Jejomar Binay and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo.

P11.3-M tab

Malacañang said the cost of President Aquino’s five-day trip to Vietnam for the 17th Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit would only be P11.3 million, according to Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr.

The amount covers the expenses for the 52-man delegation accompanying the President on his second foreign trip since he became President last June. This includes accommodations, transportation, food and the cost of commercial airfare.

“The President is being consistently prudent when it comes to his trips. He insisted on cutting the support staff to minimum and paring down expenses so that taxpayers’ money is wisely spent,” Ochoa said in a statement.

Ochoa added that the President’s trip to the US last month reinforced Mr. Aquino’s views that huge delegations were unnecessary and wasteful.

“If the first foreign trip taught us anything, it is that it is possible to limit the delegation size and keep costs down and still meet the objectives of the trip,” Ochoa explained.

“Last month the President brought home $2.4 billion worth of investments and more than 40,000 new jobs and still achieved those results with a lean staff. At the end of the day, it’s not about how big the delegation is; what matters is who’s leading them,” Ochoa said.

Six Cabinet officials are in the Aquino entourage in Vietnam.

They are Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo, Foreign Secretary Romulo, Presidential Management Staff chief Julia Abad, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Carandang.

No room for conflict

Meanwhile, President Aquino stressed that productive engagement and not confrontation is his approach to resolving territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

“The code of conduct (in the South China Sea) is number one (in our priority) and perhaps an even more formalized plan towards exploiting it, perhaps on a cooperative basis,” he told reporters at the Grand Plaza Hotel here, where he is staying. China and some Southeast countries including the Philippines are claiming some islets and reefs that are believed to be rich in oil and gas.

Aquino is expected to talk about the issue of territorial claims in his speech before the ASEAN. “It will be part of one of my speeches,” Aquino said.

“It will be good if no hostilities will flare up in the area and maybe the next phase should be, how do we explore the possibility that all claimant-countries can really start reaping the fruits of the potentials of this area so that it will be beneficial,” Mr. Aquino said earlier.

“The idea is if we will benefit from this all at the same time, our economies grow and the state of living of all our constituents improve, then we will move away farther from the fear that something untoward will happen in the South China Sea - so in the end - a really a greater cohesion, a greater cooperation in the economic field more than anything,” he said.

“And hopefully that will lead to greater stability within the region.”

The Philippines submitted its official claim on the disputed Spratlys in the South China Sea after Congress approved the Baseline Law that former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law in March 2009.

Aside from the Philippines the Spratlys is also being claimed in whole or in part by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia.

Manila protested in 2009 the claims of Malaysia and Vietnam over Kalayaan Islands in the Spratlys because they overlap with the Philippine claim.

The Philippines is also claiming Sabah, which Malaysia considers part of its territory.