Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri (Photo courtesy of Senate PRIB)
MANILA – The Philippine Senate continues to prepare for the country's hosting of the 31st Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF31), which will be attended by its 28 member-countries on Nov. 23 to 26.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said APPF31 will focus on finding common understanding and approaches to existing and emerging challenges facing the Asia Pacific region.
"The Philippines has consistently participated in APPF's Annual Meetings as we find great value in the various deliberations with our fellow parliamentarians, especially on key issues relating to regional security, transnational crime, free and fair trade, climate change adaptation and sustainable development, migration, and most recently, on global health pandemics and ensuring post-pandemic economic recovery," Zubiri said.
"This is a great start for the President's (Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.) administration, to show that the Philippines is once again open to the international community, in this period of post-pandemic recovery," he added.
The Philippines' hosting of APPF31 also comes in the same year that the country has officially joined the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership after the Senate concurred to its ratification in February.
During the plenary deliberation on the proposed 2024 budget of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and its attached agencies on Thursday night, Zubiri appealed for the full support of Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr. and Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. to the gathering.
"Two weeks from now, we will be having the APPF, the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum. It's the APEC of parliamentarians as I have mentioned earlier Secretary. Kailangan namin ng tulong ng office ninyo (We need the help of your office] because together with the PNP Chief, we must protect the safety of these 300 or so legislators and their delegations)," Zubiri told the two officials.
"Maybe a week before it starts, we will ask you for a briefing from the different agencies that are coordinating with the Senate. Kami kasi ang host niyan (We are the host of that) Secretary so we want to make sure that all of it will be flawless," he added.
It is the second time that the Philippines will host the annual forum, bringing together parliamentarians from 28 countries to discuss pressing political, security, socio-economic issues, and challenges confronting the region.
Since its establishment in 1993, the APPF remains at the forefront of promoting multilateralism and parliamentary dialogue.
The 31st Annual Meeting of the APPF will focus on forging resilient partnerships as key to recovery. (PNA)
