Philippines

It gives me great pleasure, Madam, to extend to you the felicitations of my Government and our people, and my own congratulations, on your well-deserved election to the presidency of the General Assembly. My delegation stands ready to extend to you its fullest cooperation, not only as a member of your Bureau, but as a close friend of Bahrain as well. Your predecessor, Mr. Jan Eliasson, has left an indelible impression on the United Nations. Under his leadership, we were able to carry out a substantial part of the package of reforms mandated by the largest gathering of world leaders, as set out in the 2005 World Summit Outcome (resolution 60/1). Last year, our leaders met to commemorate 60 years of the United Nations. That meeting gave all of us renewed hopes for peace, growth, progress and the pre-eminence of the rights of all peoples. Those hopes remain, even in the face of continuing threats to the peace and security of mankind posed by terrorism and the proliferation of nuclear weapons; even in the face of grinding poverty and financial uncertainty; even in the face of intolerance and misunderstanding; and, certainly, in the face of the fast-changing nature of our world. Those hopes remain because the spirit of cooperation and community, which lies at the very heart of our Charter, lives on. Cooperation remains the key to reaching the goals set by our Charter. Cooperation, according to a twentieth-century philosopher, is the only thing that will redeem mankind. It is in that spirit that the Philippines welcomes and supports the continued work of the Middle East Quartet and its call this week for greater progress towards a just and comprehensive peace. We strongly support the Road Map to peace and maintain our hopes for the realization of the vision of two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. Together with the other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), we were gravely concerned over the deteriorating situation and the escalation of violence in the Middle East, particularly the disproportionate, indiscriminate and excessive use of force in Lebanon. The United Nations peacekeeping operation now under way in Lebanon renews our hope for peace and offers a great opportunity for the United Nations to demonstrate its relevance and its impact on the world stage. Our own quest for peace in the Philippines is boldly moving forward, thanks to the support and cooperation of key members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and other members of the international community. Our own experience as a country is convincing proof of the efficacy of collective action in fighting terrorism. Working closely with our neighbours and others, we are ridding our country of terrorists. The recent adoption of the United Nations Global Counter- Terrorism Strategy (resolution 60/288) will help to strike another blow against terrorists. I commend the Permanent Representatives of Spain and Singapore for having successfully steered the negotiations on the Strategy. One of the anchors of the Strategy is an initiative that is a primary concern of my country: the promotion of interfaith dialogue and cooperation. In pursuit of that initiative, the Philippines organized and chaired two key meetings held yesterday here at the United Nations: the First Ministerial Meeting on Interfaith Dialogue and Cooperation for Peace and the High-level Conference on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace. As founder and current Chair of the Tripartite Forum on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace — a new movement of Governments, United Nations agencies and religious non-governmental organizations accredited to the United Nations — the Philippines will initiate the holding of another high-level tripartite conference, this time to focus on the issue of small arms and light weapons. In addition, the Philippines announced last week, at the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, that we will organize and convene a special ministerial meeting on interfaith dialogue and cooperation for peace in the city of Davao, in southern Philippines. Meanwhile, I commend Spain and Turkey for their new initiative on the Alliance of Civilizations. I believe that it will 27 06-53323 complement and reinforce, in a mutually inclusive manner, the Philippine initiative on interfaith dialogue and cooperation for peace. We have barely nine years left to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG), set by our leaders, of cutting poverty in half by 2015. That target could remain a mere vision if no effective mechanism for resource mobilization is found. It is in that context that the Philippine initiative on debt for equity in MDG projects was launched last year; I thank the Group of 77 and China for its support. This initiative does not call for debt cancellation, a debt moratorium or debt reduction; it merely calls for the use of part of the payments from the debt stock of low- and medium- income developing countries not eligible under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative as equity for creditors in MDG projects in areas such as infrastructure, education, employment and health. Multilateral cooperation in the field of energy security continues to grow in importance. Alternative sources of energy have to be developed. My delegation recommends that the Secretary-General appoint a group of eminent persons to look into this matter. The output of such a group should be the subject of a high- level dialogue before the current session ends. One of the historic achievements of the sixtieth session of the General Assembly was the decision to establish the Central Emergency Response Fund for the rapid deployment of relief and assistance to countries stricken by natural disasters. The Philippines ranks third globally in terms of the number of people exposed to earthquakes and tropical cyclones annually. For that reason, the Philippines calls on all nations to support the Fund. We also call for enhanced cooperation aimed at effective responses to natural disasters. International migration and development was the subject of last week’s High-level Dialogue. That is an issue that is close to our hearts. Approximately one tenth of the population of the Philippines lives overseas. We are the largest supplier of seafarers, and our land-based workers can be found in practically all parts of the world. Bearing that in mind, the Philippines joined the call for the creation of an informal global forum on migration and development as an outcome of the High- level Dialogue, provisionally outside the umbrella of the United Nations, to enable the international community to continue the dialogue on important issues relating to migration. My delegation invites Member States to accede to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families in order to demonstrate and reaffirm the universality of human rights. For my country and its people, human rights and the sanctity of the life of the individual are of paramount value. For my Government, the protection of human life is a sacred commitment. Last week, the Philippines renewed that commitment through the signing of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Enshrined in our constitution is powerful language against the death penalty. Three months ago, President Arroyo gave that constitutional mandate further expression when she signed into law Republic Act 9346, which removed the death penalty from our statute books. Such is the value that we assign to life that, in our constitution, we are bound to protect the life of the unborn child. Through the signing of the Second Optional Protocol, the Philippine Government re- emphasized its unrelenting commitment to strengthening the protection of human rights. I should like to take this opportunity to express the profound appreciation of the Philippines and of ASEAN to the outgoing Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, for his dedicated and tireless service to the United Nations. He leaves behind a more invigorated and dynamic Organization, a legacy of reform with new and needed institutions such as the Human Rights Council and the Peacebuilding Commission, and an eloquent recommitment on the part of the United Nations and its membership to alleviating the plight of the less fortunate through the articulation of the Millennium Development Goals. The Philippines is particularly appreciative of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s support and cooperation during our recent term as a Security Council member during the biennium 2004-2005 and for his steadfast support for the Philippines interfaith dialogue initiative. Two world wars ago, Mr. Woodrow Wilson, an advocate of a global organization, defined power in terms that are still relevant today. He said: “Power 06-53323 28 consists in one’s capacity to link his will with the purpose of others, to lead by reason and a gift of cooperation”. The drafters of our Charter and the challenges of the present provide us with the reason. We must now find within ourselves, as nations and as peoples, the gift of cooperation.