An ASEAN review

One week after the ASEAN summit, I am here in Manilafor a vacation with my family. Traffic in the major thoroughfares impassable during the summit is now back to its original state where vehicles are in stand still, again.

Traffic here in Metro Manila is perhaps double from what we have been experiencing there in Cebu. Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is trying their best to solving the traffic woes in the metro. It wants to make sure that everybody is following the rules. Those who don't follow are subjected to apprehension with fines for specific traffic violations, which is believed to be the reason for heavy traffic. That's Manila.

With the infamous security breach of celebrity Maria Isabel Lopezand various complaints from residents in the metro due to heavy traffic during the summit, President Rodrigo Dutertewas nevertheless hailed for his chairmanship with the 50th ASEAN. A Thai reporter who covered the events has said that Dutertewas able to place the country on the map because of his eagerness to have things the way it wanted to be. The president however remained to be unpredictable. But everything was in order. It was a period that made us all proud and even prouder of the distinction as the baton was passed to Singapore, as next chair for 51st ASEAN.

In the Visayas, another ASEAN meeting are set to take place. Bohol, a gem of the tourism industry, will once again take the limelight. Panglao will once again shine to its splendor. Despite the terrorist threat to disrupt the province's peaceful state, Bohol remained to be resilient just as it does after the earthquake.The police in the region are there ready to deploy about 3,000 policemen coming from the Regional Public Safety Battalion and the Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office. Emergency responders and the military will be on standby. They said there is no threat, but just to be sure just like all the other times, they are ready.

Putting the country on a pedestal for an association that we have been long proud of is a feat that have not been achieved by our previous presidents. Reason that I couldn't mention as of the moment.

Perhaps the past leaderships of this country took so much influencefrom the western world. That the past leaders chose to go by the rules these westerners wanted to have. Or maybe we are too blessed enough with a president that is determined to pave a way that is pro-Filipino and pro-Philippines.

There is so much to say with what happened during the ASEAN. It's quite sad. And it's relieving at the same time that it is over.

Someday, we might be hosting another international event and for another time will be proving to the world what we, Filipinos, are capable of.

The Filipinos have something to be proud of and that is a leadership filled with an iron fist.