Monday, March 17, 2008
Senate mulls ratifying Asean charter (7:27 p.m.)
MANILA -- The Philippine Senate would consider ratifying a landmark Southeast Asian charter that bolstered democracy and human rights in a region blighted by violations, two senators said Monday.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the nine other leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states signed the charter last November in Singapore and pledged to have it ratified by each of their parliaments by November this year.
Arroyo has however warned that Filipino legislators could find it difficult to ratify the charter if military-ruled Myanmar, an ASEAN member with a dismal human rights record, does not restore democracy and free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
All ASEAN members must ratify the charter or it will not come into force. Brunei, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore have already done so.
Senator Francis Escudero, an opposition leader, said Monday that Arroyo had no right to speak on behalf of the opposition-dominated Senate, pointing out that senators had yet to discuss the charter because the President had not submitted it to the Senate - the only chamber able to ratify treaties.
Escudero said he has read an unofficial copy of the charter and found it "a good starting document" to strengthen trust in a region ridden with conflicts.
Opposition Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., a vocal critic of Myanmar's junta, said he wanted to assess whether the charter could help prevent human rights violations in countries such as Myanmar.
The long-overdue charter is aimed at formally turning the 40-year-old ASEAN - often derided as a powerless talk shop - into a rules-based legal entity. That means ASEAN could sue and be sued under the charter, and would be held accountable for all the treaties and agreements it signs. (AP)
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