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Philippine Mission to ASEAN Holds Briefing on Regional Security Issues and on Humanitarian Assistance

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JPM-Press Release-2022-23

(Front row, left to right: Third Secretary Noel Rodriguez, AHA Centre Assistant Director Lawrence Anthony Dimailig, NDCP President Archimedes Viaje, Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. Elizabeth T. Te, and Assistant Director Raymund Jose Quilop of the ASEAN Secretariat)

18 July 2022, Jakarta – The Permanent Mission of the Philippines to ASEAN organized a briefing on regional security issues and on humanitarian assistance for the Master of National Security Administration (MNSA) Program Regular Class 57 of the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP) on 18 July 2022 at the Mission chancery in Jakarta.

Ms. Elizabeth Te, the  Mission’s Chargé d'Affaires, a.i., discussed the extent to which geographical and environmental factors influence policy and decision-makers. She briefed the participants on regional security issues such as the competing perspectives on the situation in the South China Sea, and the differences in worldview as well as similarities in fundamental principles of the various Indo-Pacific strategies in relation to the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific. She also presented the views of ASEAN Foreign Ministers regarding the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in Ukraine.

Assistant Director Raymund Quilop, Head of the Analysis and Monitoring Division of the ASEAN Secretariat’s Political-Security Department, delved on the implications of  recent developments, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Australia-United Kingdom-United States Trilateral Security Partnership, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, and intensifying United States-China competition.  He also explained how ASEAN ensures that it remains the driving force in regional affairs through ASEAN-led mechanisms, and how ASEAN promotes intra-ASEAN stability.

Mr. Lawrence Anthony Dimailig, Assistant Director for Disaster Monitoring and Analysis of the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre), discussed the crucial role of the AHA Centre in promoting regional collaboration in disaster management and emergency response. He illustrated how the Centre operates when large scale disasters take place in Southeast Asia, including the provision of strategic, operational and field coordination as well as the pre-positioning of relief items through the Disaster Emergency Logistic System (DELSA) which has warehouses strategically located in the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand.

The participants from the MNSA Regular Class 57 had the opportunity to pose questions, requests for clarifications and comments during the open forum that followed the lectures.

The briefing was organized in connection with NDCP’s Global Security Development Studies (GSDS), an integral part of its MNSA program which seeks to enhance the participants’ views about forces and structures in the external environment that may shape national security policies.

The MNSA Regular Class 57 is composed of 65 military officers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, civilian government officials, selected executives from the private sector and military officers from other countries.  A delegation of 27 participants are currently in Jakarta for the NDCP’s GSDS course.

The NDCP is the Philippine government’s highest center for education, training, and research on defense and national security.  Retired Brigadier General Archimedes Viaje, the president of NDCP, led the delegation.  END.

 (Seated, left to right) Assistant Director Raymund Jose Quilop of the ASEAN Secretariat, Mrs. Maria Rowena Viaje, NDCP President Archimedes Viaje, Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. Elizabeth T. Te, AHA Centre Assistant Director Lawrence Anthony Dimailig