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Thursday, May 29, 2008
Chief Justice seeks review of Asean consensus rule
MANILA -- Chief Justice Reynato Puno criticized the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on Wednesday for its slow response to the Myanmar cyclone and surging rice prices, which could become a regional security threat.
He called for a review of the effectivity of the Asean rule of consensus to make it responsive to the changing social, economic and political situation among member nations.
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Puno said the 10-member Asean's policy of deciding by consensus has hobbled it in responding rapidly to crises, including the May 2-3 Cyclone Nargis that killed 78,000 people and left 56,000 missing in military-ruled Myanmar, according to government figures.
"The disaster has become an aid crisis that exposes the impotence of the Asean in assisting a member country knocked down on its knees," Puno said.
In his keynote speech before delegates of the 8th Asean Inter-University Conference (IUC), Puno said there is a need to reexamine its "Rule on Consensus" in the light of the disasters, natural and man-mad alike, food crisis, and security threat to now sweeping not only the region but the entire world as well.
The event was a gathering of scholars from the social sciences, natural sciences, and humanities in the region and one of the biggest academic international conferences of this kind in the world. A total of 23 countries were represented in the conference and nearly 200 scientific papers have been submitted for consideration of the delegates.
Asean failed to rapidly act in the crucial first few days after the cyclone because of the lack of an effective regional mechanism to deal with such contingencies, Puno said.
Puno noted that Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan called for a "coalition of mercy," but it took several more days before the bloc managed to agree on a way to help cyclone victims.
"While the body bags kept on piling in Myanmar, the coalition cannot immediately come to life given the Asean way of slow-motion intergovernmental consultation and consensus-taking process," he said.
Asean only managed to organize an emergency meeting of its foreign ministers on May 19 -- more than two weeks after Nargis struck -- after getting Myanmar's consent. The ministers agreed to set up a task force to handle distribution of foreign aid to more than two million cyclone victims and hold a donor conference with the United Nations.
Asean has long been hamstrung by a bedrock rule of noninterference in each other's affairs and a policy of making decisions by consensus. It has particularly been criticized for failing to nudge member Myanmar to move toward democracy, release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest and improve its dismal human rights record.
Asean has also failed to effectively deal with steep increases in the price of food, particularly rice -- the region's staple -- despite the fact that half of its 10 member countries are key grain exporters, he said.
"The rice crisis has far-reaching repercussions to the stability of the region, for there is no greater threat to tranquility than the rumblings of empty stomachs," Puno said.
Puno said the problems facing the Asean are "without nationality and which no country can solve by its might alone, so the need for cooperation is necessary."
"It is now self-evident that an unbending insistence on the rule on consensus could hamper the international struggle against terrorism, transnational crimes, unlawful migration, environmental decay, etc.," he said.
Puno said the Asean could not hope to deal with the superpowers, such as the European Union, the United States, Japan, and China unless the Asean regional integration is pushed "with greater passion and precision." (ECV/AP/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (May 29, 2008 issue)
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