ASEAN urged to deny Myanmar chairmanship

ASEAN urged to deny Myanmar chairmanship

PHILIPPINES: The Philippines senate is to pass a resolution
calling for Myanmar to be stripped of its upcoming ASEAN
chairmanship unless it releases a timetable toward democracy and
improves human rights, its president said on Friday.

Franklin Drilon urged Myanmar's military government to respect
the rights of its people ahead of an Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers' informal meeting in the
central Philippines city of Cebu on Monday.

"The Senate of the Philippines through the Committee on
Foreign Relations has a pending resolution which is about to be
adopted in the Senate which says Myanmar should not be allowed to
assume the chairmanship of the ASEAN unless there is a definite
timetable for the road map to democracy and the human rights
issues are addressed," he said.

Drilon said Filipino Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo has told
him "that he will bring to the attention of the informal
gathering of foreign affairs ministers the sentiment of the
Philippine Senate insofar as the Myanmar issue is concerned."

Politicians in ASEAN member states Malaysia, the Philippines
and Singapore have been seeking to prevent Myanmar from taking
over the rotating ASEAN chairmanship next year, while Cambodia
and Vietnam are backing Yangon on the issue. --AFP