Political and economic cooperation between the Philippines and South Korea is expected to take further steps forward after South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun’s Dec. 14-16 state visit at the invitation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

President Roh arrives in Manila tomorrow (Wednesday) for a three-day state visit on his way home from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where he attended the ASEAN+3 and East Asia Summits.

South Korea is one of the three Asian countries considered as special partners of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and aptly designated as +3. The two others are China and Japan.

ASEAN groups Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Presidents Arroyo and Roh will hold a special summit of their own on Thursday (Dec. 15) where the two leaders will discuss ways to further promote substantive bilateral cooperation between their two countries.

President Roh is also scheduled to attend the opening of the IT Training Center in Quezon City, and address the Korea-Philippines Economic Council composed of business leaders of the two countries.

He will likewise meet Korean residents in the Philippines and touch base with Philippine veterans of the 1950-53 Korean War before returning home on Dec. 16.

Filipino soldiers figured prominently in the Korean War where members of the Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea (PEFTOK) shed blood and died.

The late Brig. Gen. Dionisio Ojeda, who commanded the Philippine Army’s 10^th Battalion Combat Team, emerged a hero of the Korea War. One of his men was former President Fidel V. Ramos who saw action in Korea as a young second lieutenant and platoon commander.

It was partly in recognition of this fond memory of the gallant Filipino soldiers that the city government of Busan, the venue of the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum leaders’ summit, hosted members of the Philippine media who covered the summit to a special and sumptuous dinner during the event.

A good number of Filipino soldiers died in the bloody Korean War in Busan.

During President Roh’s visit, the Philippines and South Korea will formalize and sign an Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) arrangement binding the Korean government to disburse EDCF money to help finance road improvement projects in the Philippines.

The accord commits to fund the upgrading of the Gapan-San Fernando-Olongapo (GSO) Road and Emergency Dredging Project.

Aside from the EDCF, the two countries will also sign memoranda of understanding in the areas of energy cooperation and mineral resources cooperation, under which they will reaffirm their commitments to cooperate further in promoting socio-economic development of the Philippines.

President Roh’s visit to Manila is likewise expected to further diversify the two countries’ flourishing bilateral relations with new collaborations in social and cultural fields.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (via PLDT) – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has designated former President Fidel V. Ramos to be the Philippine representative to the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) that is mandated "to examine and provide practical recommendations on the directions and nature of the ASEAN Charter."

The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed and decided to adopt a charter for the regional group that has remained loosely organized since its establishment in 1967.

The ASEAN leaders, including President Arroyo, who are here for their annual summit, said the charter would give ASEAN a legal character even as it respects the "fundamental principles, goals and structures" of their respective member countries.

They have instructed their foreign ministers to start writing the charter and agreed to establish the EPG to be composed of "highly distinguished and well-respected ASEAN citizens" that will be mandated to help guide in the formulation of the charter.

The charter, they added, will also give teeth to the various economic, political and security agreements among its member countries and between it and other countries, institutions and regional groups.

The ASEAN Charter is expected to be approved and adopted in 2007 in time for ASEAN’s 40th anniversary. It will have a governing effect over the group’s 10 member countries -- Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.

In a four-page declaration, the leaders said a new charter would require all member countries to "abide by all ASEAN norms, rules, and values and reaffirm ASEAN agreements signed and adopted before the establishment of this charter."

These include the ASEAN Declaration of 1967, the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia in 1976, the Treaty on Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in 1995, the ASEAN Vision 2020 in 1997 and the Declaration of ASEAN Concord II in 2003.

The declaration also said the charter would also "uphold the principles of inter-state relations in accordance with the United Nations Charter and established international laws that promote and protect ASEAN community interests of the individual ASEAN member-countries."

Among the guiding principles in the formulation of the new charter are:

• Promotion of democracy, human rights and obligations, transparency and good governance and strengthening democratic institutions;

• Mutual respect for independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity, and national identity of all nations;

• Renunciation of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction and avoidance of arms race;

• Renunciation of the use of force, non-aggression and executive reliance on peaceful means for the settlement of differences or disputes; and

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (via PLDT) – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called today for stepped up efforts to develop alternative sources of fuel, the strengthening of the fight against terror, along with the holding of inter-faith dialogues to address the worldwide problem of terrorism.

The President also batted strongly for collective efforts to combat poverty in the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines-East Asia Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) in bilateral talks with fellow heads of states on the sidelines of the 11^th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit being held in this Malaysian capital.

The topics of discussions centered on the President's push for a broader regional security front against terrorism, heightened efforts to ensure maritime and energy security, and the search for alternative fuels.

On the issue of counter-terrorism, the President said stepped up law enforcement and exchange of intelligence information among ASEAN countries would bolster initiatives against terrorism as discussed during the ASEAN-India Joint Declaration for Cooperation to Combat Terrorism in October 2003.

Among the initiatives cited in the ASEAN-India declaration were the identification of nodal agencies, the holding of workshops on terrorism, transnational crime and terrorist financing.

The President stressed that inter-faith dialogues would play a key role in addressing the global problem of terrorism.

"Interfaith dialogue must pace security cooperation," she said, adding that the "Philippines' peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is perhaps the only one in the world that includes a component of counter-terrorism cooperation."

On maritime security, the President called the attention of her fellow leaders to the increasing problem of piracy and armed attacks at sea, particularly in the South China Sea, the Malacca Straits and the Andaman.

She stressed the need for stepped up exchange of intelligence information and capacity building efforts among various coast guards of the ASEAN member nations, especially in the areas of education and training, mutual assistance in investigation, joint exercise programs and coordinated or combined patrol operations to address the issue of maritime security.

The President also underscored the importance of energy security and the search for alternative sources of fuel such as bioethanol from ethanol plants in Southeast Asia's sugar producing countries, diesel oil from coconut, wind farms and rural solar-energy projects, oil and gas explorations in the China Sea, and the activation of a regional stockpile of fuel in each country.

On the BIMP-EAGA sub-regions, the President said poverty alleviation may be addressed through investments and tourism.

She particularly cited the Koreans who, she said, were instrumental in the resurgence of tourism in the region.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (via PLDT) -- Former President Fidel V. Ramos said today any coup attempt to oust President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from power is bound to fail because it does not have the backing of the police, the military and most importantly, the people.

The former President, who quashed nine coup attempts as Defense secretary during the administration of former President Corazon Aquino, made the observation in reaction to reported rumors of another coup attempt against the Arroyo administration.

"Wala yan (Talks of a coup d'etat is nothing)," Ramos said.

"Why? Because the coup plotters have not yet garnered the critical mass support not just from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police and of the people needed to mount a coup," he added.

Ramos stressed that Filipinos are tired of coups because they are the ones who will be seriously inconvenienced.

Ramos is here as the designated Philippine representative to the Eminent Persons Group (EPG), the research group composed of highly distinguished and well-respected citizens from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) mandated to examine and provide practical recommendations on the directions and nature of the proposed ASEAN charter.

Ramos is with the official entourage of President Arroyo who is here to attend the 11^th ASEAN Summit and related Summits from Dec. 11 to 14.

The President joins nine other leaders from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia to the four-day series of meetings and bilateral talks to further strengthen the economic, political and economic integration of the ASEAN members.

Meanwhile, Malacaņang reiterated its earlier statement that the so-called coup talks are just rumors and should be dismissed as quickly.

In a press briefing here, Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye said that the rumors were being spread by members of the opposition who are still hoping to grab power.

"I believe these rumors can be dismissed outright. We are confident that the professional loyalty of our Armed Forces is very strong. And these rumors that are being peddled by some segments of the political opposition carry the hallmarks of a dying opposition that is clutching at straws," Bunye said.

These stories may be dismissed outright. The unity of command and the professional loyalty of the uniformed services are total and unsullied. The national security situation is stable.

These desperate scenarios being painted by some detractors of the President are the hallmark of an opposition clutching at straws.

The President has already been cleared by the dismissal of the impeachment complaint.

The opposition and their allies were given ample time to substantiate their allegations but they miserably failed to do so.

Congress and the people will have the final say on Constitutional reform.

The members of the Consultative Commission (ConCom) have recommended a framework and reference point towards shaping our political and economic future, and they must be commended for their good work.

We call on the Opposition to spare the ConCom from politics and refrain from turning it as a springboard for controversial publicity.