Philippine FM to skip ASEAN meeting

Philippine FM to skip ASEAN meeting

PHILIPPINES: Philippine foreign minister-designate Blas Ople is to skip a Southeast Asian gathering next week in Brunei, foreign office sources said on Thursday.

Ople, a 75-year-old veteran politician, was named by President Gloria Arroyo late Wednesday to replace Teofisto Guingona, who was forced out for opposing U.S.-Philippine counter-terrorism operations in the south.

But sources said Ople would not attend the meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers because he did not have enough time to prepare.

Ople has yet to assume his post because he first has to resign his seat in the Senate.

Officials had said that Manila's ambassador to Japan, Domingo Siazon, a former foreign secretary, would represent the Philippines in Brunei.--AFP