Noy to meet US senator who helped Cory

MANILA, Philippines - American Sen. Richard Lugar, who supported the ouster of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and helped install Corazon Aquino as president in February 1986, will pay a courtesy call on President Aquino this afternoon.

In an interview over state-owned radio dzRB, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the only information they have in Malacañang is that Lugar will have a courtesy call and that no agenda has yet been set for their talks.

Lugar is set to visit Aquino at 1 p.m. today at the President’s Hall in Malacañang Palace.

Lugar is in Manila for a five-day visit to meet with top officials and discuss the reduction of the proliferation and threats of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, in Southeast Asia.

Lugar will be in the country until Oct. 31. Among the officials he will be meeting, aside from Aquino, are Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and several other government officials.

He is the most senior Republican in the US Senate and had played a role in installing Aquino’s mother, the late Cory Aquino, to the presidency in 1986. Cory succumbed to colon cancer in August 2009.

Lugar headed an official team of foreign election observers in the 1986 presidential elections, during which he called out Marcos for delaying the reporting of votes to manipulate the final count. 

Dismantling of nukes

The US embassy said Lugar’s visit is an effort to expand the Nunn-Lugar Global Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program, which focuses on dismantling nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and reducing their stockpiles.

“Cooperation is essential to identifying and interdicting the flow of weapons of mass destruction through Southeast Asia. Sources of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons or precursor materials could be states or rogue terrorist elements,” it quoted Lugar.

“Southeast Asia is a major intersection of global trade and commerce by water and air. US strategic economic and foreign policy needs to become more robust in the Asia-Pacific region and Nunn-Lugar Global Cooperative Threat Reduction will be an important tool for our diplomatic and military leaders as we seek a more integrated approach to the region,” he added.