The Philippines' role in the UN community

The Philippine government under the leadership of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo can take a bow for the successfully holding of the 2nd Global Forum for Migration which was presided by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.            

The Secretary General in his PICC address expressed “deep appreciation to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the outstanding work she and her government have done in preparing the Second Forum, and in bringing us all together here in the captivating city of Manila. Your experiences as one of the most important countries of emigration, whose citizens are respected around the world, make you a natural leader in this field. It has sparked a broader recognition of the enormous benefits that migration can bring. Only by safeguarding the rights of migrants, and ensuring that migrants are treated with the dignity and respect due any human being, can we create the conditions in which migration can contribute to development. We want to create the so-called “triple win”: for countries of origin, for countries of destination, and for the migrants themselves. Likewise, we must work much harder to understand the demands of our increasingly diverse societies. We must make a special effort to inform and educate people so that we can foster social harmony and solidarity.”

The Secretary General has also been pushing for the UN Campaign on the Millennium Development Goals. The global count of people standing up and taking action in fighting poverty was just held on a weekend of October 17 to 19 on the occasion of the observance of the International Day for the Elimination of Poverty. What was particularly a touching sidelight is the appreciation of the cultural ingredient in realizing this common dream of our global village. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo escorted Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and his wife to receive a special gift, a mural on the 8 Millennium Development Goals vividly depicting the areas of concern. The couple was most appreciative of the creation of the collective of artists from Batanes. It was part of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) cultural care-giving services to vulnerable groups and its trainors training DREAMS approach to dynamically apply cultural diversity for achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals. A comprehensive program on communications, information, and motivation to involve the participation of the people is so important in transforming objectives into diverse cultural symbols that people can understand. The Philippines won first place with a 35 million count. This count is an achievement not just in terms of body count but serves as a historic symbolic gesture showing Filipinos can be united beyond politics, religion and social status to focus on a global urgent need of addressing poverty, injustice and inequity which can be resolved by compassion and love. This should be a standard for working together. Crisis is the time where as a member of the family of nations Filipinos must stand together “Kapit Bisig, Nagtutulungan, Nagmamalasakitan, Nagmamahalan upang matamo ang kapayapaan at likas kayang Kaunlaran.”

Most of the time media reports have been negative, this is where we can beat the drums, applaud ourselves and give credit where it is due. The cultural policy of President Arroyo for poverty alleviation has been affirmed internationally and we congratulate NCCA as the implementing agency led by a dynamic duo through its Chairman, DepEd Undersecretary Vilma Labrador and Cecile Guidote Alvarez, its Executive Director and her Presidential Assistant on Culture.

For the first time a UN Millennium Development prize awarded by the UN Campaign office was personally given by the new UNDP Chief Renaud Meyer representing the UNRC-AI Suneeta Mukerjee in Malacañang Palace with the President. This is a global movement that was initiated in the Philippines on the occasion of the UNESCO International Theatre Institute 31st Congress and Theatre Olympics of the Nations in the Philippines; the first time this biennial gathering of artists has been held in South East Asia graced by the UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura. The Philippine team headed by Guidote-Alvarez, the first Filipina in the Executive Board of the ITI, has modeled cultural care-giving services for overseas communities in Madrid in partnership with the Philippine Embassy led by Ambassador Antonio Lagdameo with the support of the office of Senator Edgardo Angara. The impact of this program was presented in the 32nd Congress in Spain and the Philippine delegation’s proposal to harness and mobilize the theatre community around the world as a creative army for this new direction was applauded unanimously and approved. The ITI Committee on Cultural Identity and Development co-chaired by Sudan and the Philippines is focused on 2 programs that were approved in Manila and affirmed in Madrid which underscores the importance of theatre arts in promoting a culture of peace in places of armed conflict and underscoring a cultural dimension in the Diaspora phenomenon.   

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon at the dinner hosted in his honor by the President commented: “This trip reaffirmed for us the great contributions the Philippines is making to the world. Your country is one of the strongest supporters of the United Nations and international diplomacy. We share common aspirations. Your strong commitment to the Millennium Development Goals is inspiring. Nearly 700 Philippine military and police personnel currently serving the cause of peace under the UN’s blue flag.” Indeed, this is good news amidst a time of depressing economic difficulties.