MANILA, Philippines – Parliamentarians from Southeast Asia who gathered in Manila for the 38th ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) were silent on the Rohingya refugee crisis enveloping Myanmar, and the 10-member nations of the regional body did not reach a consensus on the issue.
From among the member states, it was only Indonesia that raised the humanitarian crisis in the state of Rakhine during the discussions, according to Deputy Speaker Ferdinand Hernandez.
“However, based on the rules of the AIPA that every decision should be made with consensus, there was an objection on the part of Myanmar, and so, therefore, no consensus came out of that matter,” Hernandez said in a news conference after the AIPA closing ceremony in Makati City.
Quirino Rep. Dakila Cua explained that AIPA works on a consensus vote on every issue proposed by the members.
“Every resolution churned out has the full backing of the 10 member countries, not nine, not eight,” he added.
Of the 36 proposed issues for resolution, Cua said only 21 were approved.
Lim Biow Chuan, deputy speaker and head of Singapore delegation, said the body deemed it better to give Myanmar time to deal with the issue.
“This is an evolving situation, what we don’t want to do is to complicate the situation by having comments that won’t be helpful … Let’s give them some time,” he said.
President Rodrigo Duterte spoke at the closing ceremony of the AIPA assembly and rallied members to continue the process of dialogue and cooperation.
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez urged fellow lawmakers in the region to help translate into actual policies the resolutions they adopted in the assembly.
Alvarez, who is the outgoing AIPA president and host of the event, said the translation of these resolutions into actual and actionable policies must be guaranteed.
“I therefore call upon the AIPA Member Parliaments and Observer Countries to put more effort into raising awareness on the outcome of this General Assembly, as well as those of previous ones, with the aim of incorporating them into your legislative agenda priorities,” Alvarez said in his closing remarks.
