ALA events in Phl
Legal luminaries from the different ASEAN member-countries are in the Philippines for the two-day regional event of the ASEAN Law Association (ALA), the only recognized civil society entity for law under the ASEAN Charter.
Last Friday evening at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City, a dinner reception was held to honor the chairmen and members of the ALA working groups and for the formal induction of the Philippine National Committee minister-representatives to the ALA Governing Council. The inductees are Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, Information and Communications Technology Secretary Rodolfo Salalima, Transportation Secretary Arturo Tugade, PAGCOR president Alfredo Lim, and Solicitor General Jose Calida, most of who served as ALA officials.
A legal forum was also held last Friday dealing with the preparatory work for two ALA working groups, namely “ALA at the Crossroads” chaired by Singapore Justice Lee Seiu Kin, and “Harmonization of Laws” headed by the Philippines Llewellyn Llanillo.
According to ALA president, lawyer Avelino Cruz of the Philippines and Philippine National Committee (PNC) chair retired Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban, the meetings will energize the preparatory work for the formal meetings of the ALA Working Groups to be held in Singapore in January 2017.
The ALA Governing Council includes ALA president Avelino Cruz, secretary general Regina Geraldez, and the vice presidents and chairmen of the national committees of each ALA member-country. They are Brunei Chief Justice Kifrawi Kifli, Cambodia Justice You Ottara, Indonesia Chief Justice Hatta Ali, Phomsouvanh Philachanh of Lao PDR, Malaysia Chief Justice Arifin Bin Zakaria, Myanmar retired Chief Justice Tun Tun Oo, former Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, Singapore Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Thailand Chief Justice Veerapol Tungsuwan, and Vietnam’s Nguyen Van Quyen.
The ALA Philippine National Committee composed of Chief Justice Panganiban, vice chairman Alonzo Ancheta, secretary Victoria delos Reyes, treasurer Reginal Geraldez, deputy secretary general Ricardo Bernabe, Jr. ALA Journal editor Prof. Myrna Feliciano, assistant secretary Victoria Loanzon, and public relations committee chair Michael Toledo. Its representatives to the Governing Council include SC Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and Justice Antonio Carpio (Judiciary); Lilia de Lima and Prof. Myrna Feliciano (lawyers in government); Danilo Concepcion and chairman Andres Bautista (teachers of law).