Security, trade top Duterte’s agenda

Bilateral meetings with Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam set at sidelines of ASEAN Summit

SINGAPORE – President Duterte is set to have bilateral meetings with the leaders of Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam at the sidelines of the 32nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit here.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said the President’s meetings with the leaders of the

three nations are being finalized.

He said that it was the Philippines that requested the bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as Singapore is the current chairman and host of the ASEAN following the Philippines’ hosting.

Based on the tentative schedule, the President’s bilateral meeting with Lee will be at around 3 p.m. on Saturday.

The Chief Executive is also set to meet with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Friday evening.

Cayetano said piracy and terrorism are most likely high in the agenda of the two neighboring ASEAN states. He said trade relations of the two countries might also be discussed by the two leaders.

“Regarding piracy, terrorism, these are always high on the agenda of the two presidents because sumusulong na ang ating cooperation with them (our cooperation with them in these areas are ongoing),” Cayetano told Malacañang reporters in Singapore.

“Of course, when you have peace and order, then you have also commerce,” he added.

Cayetano also said that Duterte might also raise with President Widodo the fate of Filipino fishermen who are imprisoned in Indonesia for unwittingly fishing in the waters of Vietnam and Indonesia due to lack of equipment.

“Because wala ngang boundary sa dagat na visible sa ating mga fishermen, and unlike sa fishermen sa ibang bansa na kumpleto sa GPS, et cetera, marami pa ring nahuhuling Pilipino minsan sa Vietnam at dito sa Indonesia (Because there is no visible boundary and because of the lack of equipment of our fishermen, there are still a lot who get arrested sometimes in Vietnam and in Indonesia),” Cayetano said.

“So, high in the priority of the President is the release of the fishermen who are still in Indonesia,” he added.

Cayetano also said that Duterte will also meet with Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen XuanPhuc on Friday evening but said that details are still being ironed out.

Duterte is set to arrive in Singapore at around 9:30 p.m. Thursday. His official schedule begins on Friday where he will attend a dinner to be hosted by Prime Minister Lee, and the Plenary Session.

The President will also participate in the opening ceremony of the ASEAN Summit on Saturday morning. It will be followed by the Summit Retreat where he is expected to speak. The lunch hosted by the ASEAN chair will follow.

On Saturday afternoon, the President is set to meet with the business delegation. His bilateral meeting with PM Lee will come after.

In the evening, Duterte is scheduled to meet with the members of the Filipino community (FilCom) in Singapore before flying back to Davao City.

Filipino community According to Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Joseph Del Mar Yap, there are roughly 180,000 Filipinos working and living in Singapore. Of the said number, around 60 percent are professional or skilled workers, while the remaining 40 percent are domestic workers.

Yap said President Duterte is wellloved by the Filipinos in Singapore and that the slots available for his meeting with them were already filled in less than 24 hours.

“We know that the President still enjoys very, very high support and trust from the OFWs here in Singapore. For example, when we opened the registration for the FilCom Meeting on Saturday, it took less than 24 hours for the 6,000 slots to be taken. And that’s considering that it’s for a Saturday where most, many of the OFWs also may not be on leave but still, it took less than 24 hours to fill it up,” he said.

Ties with Singapore

Yap also said that Philippines is not only enjoying a robust bilateral relationship with Singapore in terms of trade and investment, but also in defense, cyber security, and tourism.

He said Singapore has been one of the country’s partners in counter-terrorism and cyber security, noting that it has provided the Philippines with assistance during the five-month siege in Marawi City last year.

“Singapore is one of our steadfast partners in terms of counter-terrorism and cyber security. Actually, during the Marawi seige, they provided us with assistance and is open to additional assistance if the Philippines will request for it,” he said.

“They have provided their training facilities. They have opened their training facilities and we sent, I think, 40 or 50 soldiers to train here already in terms of urban warfare because the Marawi siege was a different situation than what we were used to,” he said.

Trade and investment

Yap also said that Singapore is the Philippines’ biggest trading partner in ASEAN, noting that there is approximately US$10 billion of trade between the two countries.

Singapore is also the biggest source of OFW remittances wherein the Philippines receives about US$1.75 billion remittance from Singapore every year, he added.