GOPAC ~ SEAPAC |
Philippine Star Asian
parliamentarians to join forces vs corruption By Christina Mendez - March 11, 2005
|
Lawmakers
across the Southeast Asian region have joined forces in putting up a
regional organization that will fight graft and corruption, Sen. Edgardo
Angara announced yesterday. Angara
said parliamentarians from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
have decided to form a common front against the graft and corruption
plaguing member countries. Senate
President Franklin Drilon said Filipino lawmakers will have the chance to
meet their counterparts from all over the world in two international
conferences set this month until the first week of April. Drilon
said the senators would also have the chance to meet Swiss lawmakers to
discuss the pending ratification of the RP-Swiss Treaty on Mutual Legal
Assistance on Criminal Matters in separate bilateral talks on the 112th
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) general assembly in Manila from April 3-9. Drilon
said the signing of the treaty is important since it will strengthen the
country’s ties with the Swiss government in the bid to create mechanisms
to boost the campaign of the Philippine government over ill-gotten wealth
stashed in several Swiss bank accounts. “The
treaty is expected to strengthen cooperation between the Philippines and
Switzerland in the fight against transnational crimes, particularly
terrorism, organized crime, government corruption, as well as facilitate
cooperation on legal matters involving nationals of both countries,”
Drilon said. The Swiss
government will be sending a 12-member delegation to attend the IPU
General Assembly. Separate
bilateral talks between Filipino and Swiss lawmakers will be held to
discuss the RP-Swiss treaty. Angara,
meanwhile, said the plan to create a regional body against corruption
would be a major part of the agenda of the meeting of ASEAN
parliamentarians on March 31 to April 1. Angara,
who represents the ASEAN parliamentarians in the executive committee of
the Ottawa-based Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against
Corruption (GOPAC), said ASEAN lawmakers would set up the Southeast Asian
Parliamentarians Against Corruption (SEAPAC) which would have a major role
in fighting corruption in the region through legislation and advocacy
work. The organizing conference is also expected to ratify the United Nations Convention Against Corruption that was signed in 2003. The UN Convention was a direct result of the body’s realization that there should be more effective legal instruments for fighting corruption on a global scale. |
GOPAC ~ SEAPAC |