Group work : APEC

Our group chose APEC since it was not much discussed in class. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation or APEC is a forum to facilitate economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific Region. It has 21 member economies which some of it are Philippines, Australia, China, Singapore, New Zealand. APEC’s purpose and goals are to further enhance the economic growth and prosperity within the region and to strengthen the community of Asia-Pacific. It is working to reduce the trade barriers specifically tariffs across the region, and to increase exports by creating efficient domestic economies, also to create jobs and greater opportunity for trade and investments. Moreover, it works through cooperation that the region will be an environment where there is safe and efficient flow of goods, services and people. As a smaller international organization, APEC is seen by its member states to be much easier to work with. Also, APEC has no treaty obligations required of its participants. Decisions made within APEC are reached by consensus and commitments are undertaken on a voluntary basis.

http://www.apec.org/apec/about_apec.html

Quirino Grandstand Hostage Crisis

Last August 23, 2010, I had no class so I stayed the whole day in my dorm. Around 10:00 am, there was a news flash about a bus of foreign nationals from Hong Kong being hostage by dismissed Senior Inspector Rolando Mendoza. I just heard the news and I was aware but that was not a big deal to me because in my mind it will be settled right away and peacefully. And I was wrong. My day passed by while doing some school work and around 5:30pm my roommates and I watched a movie in our dorm and when the movie was over, I changed the channel to ABS-CBN and was so surprised on what is happening, that the hostage taking that I thought will be settled peacefully is now a news all over the world, as well as in Facebook and Twitter. It was really devastating and humiliating. As my roommates and I were watching, we were yelling in front of the television, instructing the SWAT team on what to do. Yes, I am not a professional but it really got into my nerves when they can’t capture the hostage taker knowing that they are about 20 in the troop and Mendoza was alone. While watching, thoughts are growing in my mind, like this would really strain our relationship with China, our tourism industry will suffer. I am really sorry to those who were killed, they have nothing to do with Mendoza’s case. Also, I was disappointed with our President because I’ve never heard something from him in the event of the crisis, I was expecting a lot from him since he is our country’s leader though I also pity him because he already have this kind of challenge to face knowing that he is in the office for just two months. To sum this up, Philippines is not the only country that has experienced hostage taking so I believe that our country is still safe and not to be black listed, and to ensure the safety of every people in the Philippines, Filipino or foreign nationals, the police must be well trained to protect and rescue them in times of crisis like this.

Child Soldiers

On the afternoon session of the SEM-CDA seminar last August 28, 2010, I did not had much information on the topic which is Child Soldiers because I came in by 30 minutes before the end of the speech of the last speaker because I had reporting in my other class. I really would like to know about child soldiers but 30 minutes was not enough and I was not able to follow what the speaker was saying maybe because I was not able to hear him from the start. I wish the report was finished earlier so that I was able to hear the experiences of the two speakers, specially encountering with child soldiers.

Public Diplomacy

Last August 28, 2010, we attended the SEM-CDA seminar on Public Diplomacy. Supposedly there were three speakers but only one came. He is from the Department of Tourism and I was not able to hear his name. Throughout his speech, he kept on saying that experience is the best teacher and he strengthened that by stating his experiences abroad and understanding the culture of other countries. He pointed out to us the activities of DOT, first is the familiarization trip which they invite people to visit the Philippines. Since DOT operates small budget, one of the smallest budget in the administration, they also rely on the word of mouth promotion which is an inexpensive promotion. Next is promoting websites which people can book thru the internet. Last is rebranding tourism products and the Philippines like the WOW Philippines and develop more digital campaigns, disseminating information thru the net. Then we had an open forum which there were questions that are about the hostage crisis last August 23, 2010. There was a question what did the DOT do to make up for the hostage crisis, the speaker told us that there were an industry forum for that incidence and they talked that they wanted to be aggressive but not too aggressive to show their sympathy and to show that we are sorry and the issue will die eventually and they have plans but it will take some time before they implement it. He gave us an idea on what the Department of Tourism is all about and the thing he said is YOU ARE THE NUMBER ONE AMBASSADORS OF YOUR COUNTRY.

Philippine Foreign Policies major concerns

August 16,2010, we discussed the major concerns of the Philippine Foreign Policies namely the regional arrangements and multilateral organizations, territorial rights: Spratly’s and the South China Sea, Direct Foreign Investements, Tourism, and the Overseas Filipinos. First is about the regional arrangements and the multilateral organizations, where we can promote our national interests through developmental diplomacy.

The second major concern is the territorial rights on Spratly’s and the South China Sea. Besides the Philippines, there are a lot of countries claiming Spratly’s islands and South China Sea as their territories which are China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. As a member of ASEAN, the Philippines decided to settle the territorial disputes in a peaceful and friendly manner and without use of any force. I think that it is right to resolve this conflict through friendly and peaceful means, however I believe that their ways of resolving this is not effective because it has been so much years since this territorial dispute started, so I think, these countries must think of a more effective way on how to resolve this issue peacefully.

Next are the direct foreign investments. I can say that foreign direct investments are very important to our country because these foreign investments provide a lot of jobs to Filipino. China, USA, Japan, and countries from Europe and ASEAN are considered as major sources of our foreign direct investments, technology transfer, as well as trade.

Fourth is tourism. There are a lot of places in our country that can be enhanced to be very good tourists’ spots, some of these are Cebu, Bohol, Tagaytay, Palawan, Ilocos, Davao a long with these, the airline industry here in our country must be also improved. Filipinos, known as being hospitable plus the enhancement of these places and the airline industry will improve our tourism to encourage not only foreigners but also us Filipinos to visit our own finest places and that can be a very good help to our economy.

Lastly is the concern for the overseas Filipinos. Now, they are considered as modern day heroes for being the largest contributor to our economy because of their remittances. As a support for them, the government is committed to abolish one of the factors that the life of the OFW’s lives will be in danger that is terrorism, also the government continuously provides assistance to Filipinos overseas through the Department of Foreign Affairs and other government agencies such as the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

Also, August 16, 2010 is our last day of meeting in PHIFOCY wherein I was surprised because time flies so fast, I just seem that the term had just started.

P-NOY on ASEAN

In P-NOY’s speech, the only thing that retained to my mind and the part that I really like is that P-NOY wants us Filipinos to be aware of our country being a member of ASEAN by translating the ASEAN Charter to Filipino and introducing the Charter in the schools here in the Philippines. Because Filipinos, especially the youth will be knowledgeable about ASEAN and through this, they can now critique and voice out their opinions about the bloc. Strengthening our bonds with other member states of ASEAN has a positive effect to our country especially with our economy through free trade agreements. I feel that President Noynoy's speech is somewhat indefinite regarding his plans for our country towards ASEAN. Still, I hope that his administration will be able to achieve the goal of ASEAN by 2015, a year before he leaves his of office.

Philippine Foreign Relations

Last August 9, 2010 was the 43^rd ASEAN Day. And we discussed the Philippines’ Foreign Relations, specifically with USA, Japan, China, ASEAN and the OIC.

First is our bilateral relation with USA which was strengthened because of the world wars that they fought together, because of the 3M Filipinos in the USA and because of the 9/11 attack and the known product of this relation is the Visiting Forces Agreement which was made because of the commitment of both countries to fight global terrorism. And we really have to strengthen our ties with US since we depend on them economically.

Next is the relation with China as the economic power with largest growing economy in the world. In terms of trade and tourism, the entry of China to WTO is an advantage to Philippines so that it can expand trade with China and attract Chinese to visit the Philippines.

Regarding Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement, it is also an agreement that is not equal like dumping of their said to be ‘non-toxic wastes’ to the Philippines in exchange for employing Filipinos to Japan. JPEPA must be reviewed and amended.

The Philippines supports the vision of for a more united and integrated ASEAN Community, working together towards economic growth, social progress, cultural development in the region. Also, the Philippines is working with Indonesia and Malaysia to stop the terrorist in the region.

With the Islamic Community, the Philippines is seeking to form a stronger relations with Organizations of Islamic Community which can resolve the dispute in Mindanao. Though it can be a solution with the Philippines’ problem regarding Mindanao, it will be hard to be part of OIC since the Philippines os dominated by Catholics.