EDITORIAL - Cebu plays a part in AIPO transformation

Cebu has passed its first real and most crucial test toward its December hosting of the 12th Asean Summit when the 27th General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organization ended yesterday on a successful note and without incident.

Significantly, the AIPO meet affirmed its commitment toward a union of a sharing and caring community in this part of the world. That this was possible underscores the remarkable transformation of what was once derided as one of Southeast Asia's more expensive talk shops.

For nearly three decades, the region's top parliamentary leaders and their delegations gathered for an annual conclave to express mutual admiration at AIPO's ability to avoid stressful confrontations and project an image of unruffled social poise.

But this bliss was not meant to last. AIPO cannot forever avert its gaze from realities that beg for attention, such as the extreme poverty of perhaps a third of its 550 million peoples, the threat of organized terrorism, and the challenges raised by globalization.

Then there are the demands for peace in regions still troubled by ethnic conflicts, the need to care for a deteriorating environment and the urgency to deal with explosive social issues such as the traffic of illegal or banned substances, and of women and children.

The 27th AIPO opened in an era of epic transformation. Speaker Jose de Venecia, president of the general Assembly, said AIPO must transform itself, must break out of talk-shop mentality or be rendered irrelevant by formidable events that impact the lives of its constituencies.

How best to achieve this is for AIPO and its member parliaments to flesh out. Its first order of business is to reconnect to its constituencies in a meaningful way, by making itself relevant as a forum to bring together the disparate voices of its peoples.

It must build these voices into elements that make a community unbreakable, with shared goals, public trust in the vision of its leaders, and support and cooperation from its citizens. This movement toward community is not just an ideal but an imperative.

The assembly in Cebu was a giant step toward building this community and those who took part in organizing it, like Deputy Speaker Raul del Mar and Rep. Antonio Cuenco, deserve to be congratulated. Now the tricky part is to sustain the enthusiasm and momentum generated in this city.