Friday, December 08, 2006 Wenceslao: Summit concerns By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
I RECEIVED a text message from an unidentified reader downplaying the security threat in the Asean summit that will open in Cebu this Sunday.
Terrorists will be wasting time and resources targeting heads of government of "third world" countries, the texter said. That showed how misinformed some people are of the magnitude of the gathering.
Anyway, I got Asean-related reading materials from the party-list group Akbayan, one of the groups raising relevant issues for the summit. It turned out Akbayan has linked up with pro-democracy groups in Myanmar, which is ruled by a military junta. A pro-democracy leader, Sann Aung, visited Mayor Tomas Osmeña's office last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, militant groups identified with the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and the party list Bayan Muna are holding protest actions and have scheduled a parallel summit next week. Like the activities of Akbayan, those of Bayan and Bayan Muna are being beefed up by personalities from other parts of the country and abroad.
Unfortunately, reports on the initial protest actions have centered on the confrontation between protesters and the police, effectively drowning the issues that the rallies and parallel summit are supposed to project. Many, for example, still have to be educated on the dragging of the US into the summit picture.
As noted in Sun.Star's editorial yesterday, it is time to set aside the peripherals and discuss core summit issues. The paper's story on the Mutual Recognition Agreement and its effect on the nursing profession is one example of the effort to veer away from such a side issue as the building permit for the Cebu International Convention Center.
But discussion of the issues that will be tackled by the summit should not be limited to the participants. It is in this sense that the effort of militant groups should be welcomed. If they do their task well and not get entangled with matters like dispersals and rally permits, they might yet be able to present good critiques of summit topics.
As for those who consider Asean member states as lightweight, I think they should start brushing up on history and geography. The problem with our West-centered culture is that we lose pride in our country and neighbors, or of the East in general. We have forgotten that before Ferdinand Magellan, our contact were with our fellow Malays, the Chinese, etc. We were Asians before we became little brown Americans.
