KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (via PLDT) – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has designated former President Fidel V. Ramos to be the Philippine representative to the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) that is mandated "to examine and provide practical recommendations on the directions and nature of the ASEAN Charter."

The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed and decided to adopt a charter for the regional group that has remained loosely organized since its establishment in 1967.

The ASEAN leaders, including President Arroyo, who are here for their annual summit, said the charter would give ASEAN a legal character even as it respects the "fundamental principles, goals and structures" of their respective member countries.

They have instructed their foreign ministers to start writing the charter and agreed to establish the EPG to be composed of "highly distinguished and well-respected ASEAN citizens" that will be mandated to help guide in the formulation of the charter.

The charter, they added, will also give teeth to the various economic, political and security agreements among its member countries and between it and other countries, institutions and regional groups.

The ASEAN Charter is expected to be approved and adopted in 2007 in time for ASEAN’s 40th anniversary. It will have a governing effect over the group’s 10 member countries -- Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.

In a four-page declaration, the leaders said a new charter would require all member countries to "abide by all ASEAN norms, rules, and values and reaffirm ASEAN agreements signed and adopted before the establishment of this charter."

These include the ASEAN Declaration of 1967, the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia in 1976, the Treaty on Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in 1995, the ASEAN Vision 2020 in 1997 and the Declaration of ASEAN Concord II in 2003.

The declaration also said the charter would also "uphold the principles of inter-state relations in accordance with the United Nations Charter and established international laws that promote and protect ASEAN community interests of the individual ASEAN member-countries."

Among the guiding principles in the formulation of the new charter are:

• Promotion of democracy, human rights and obligations, transparency and good governance and strengthening democratic institutions;

• Mutual respect for independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity, and national identity of all nations;

• Renunciation of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction and avoidance of arms race;

• Renunciation of the use of force, non-aggression and executive reliance on peaceful means for the settlement of differences or disputes; and

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (via PLDT) – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called today for stepped up efforts to develop alternative sources of fuel, the strengthening of the fight against terror, along with the holding of inter-faith dialogues to address the worldwide problem of terrorism.

The President also batted strongly for collective efforts to combat poverty in the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines-East Asia Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) in bilateral talks with fellow heads of states on the sidelines of the 11^th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit being held in this Malaysian capital.

The topics of discussions centered on the President's push for a broader regional security front against terrorism, heightened efforts to ensure maritime and energy security, and the search for alternative fuels.

On the issue of counter-terrorism, the President said stepped up law enforcement and exchange of intelligence information among ASEAN countries would bolster initiatives against terrorism as discussed during the ASEAN-India Joint Declaration for Cooperation to Combat Terrorism in October 2003.

Among the initiatives cited in the ASEAN-India declaration were the identification of nodal agencies, the holding of workshops on terrorism, transnational crime and terrorist financing.

The President stressed that inter-faith dialogues would play a key role in addressing the global problem of terrorism.

"Interfaith dialogue must pace security cooperation," she said, adding that the "Philippines' peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is perhaps the only one in the world that includes a component of counter-terrorism cooperation."

On maritime security, the President called the attention of her fellow leaders to the increasing problem of piracy and armed attacks at sea, particularly in the South China Sea, the Malacca Straits and the Andaman.

She stressed the need for stepped up exchange of intelligence information and capacity building efforts among various coast guards of the ASEAN member nations, especially in the areas of education and training, mutual assistance in investigation, joint exercise programs and coordinated or combined patrol operations to address the issue of maritime security.

The President also underscored the importance of energy security and the search for alternative sources of fuel such as bioethanol from ethanol plants in Southeast Asia's sugar producing countries, diesel oil from coconut, wind farms and rural solar-energy projects, oil and gas explorations in the China Sea, and the activation of a regional stockpile of fuel in each country.

On the BIMP-EAGA sub-regions, the President said poverty alleviation may be addressed through investments and tourism.

She particularly cited the Koreans who, she said, were instrumental in the resurgence of tourism in the region.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (via PLDT) -- Former President Fidel V. Ramos said today any coup attempt to oust President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from power is bound to fail because it does not have the backing of the police, the military and most importantly, the people.

The former President, who quashed nine coup attempts as Defense secretary during the administration of former President Corazon Aquino, made the observation in reaction to reported rumors of another coup attempt against the Arroyo administration.

"Wala yan (Talks of a coup d'etat is nothing)," Ramos said.

"Why? Because the coup plotters have not yet garnered the critical mass support not just from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police and of the people needed to mount a coup," he added.

Ramos stressed that Filipinos are tired of coups because they are the ones who will be seriously inconvenienced.

Ramos is here as the designated Philippine representative to the Eminent Persons Group (EPG), the research group composed of highly distinguished and well-respected citizens from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) mandated to examine and provide practical recommendations on the directions and nature of the proposed ASEAN charter.

Ramos is with the official entourage of President Arroyo who is here to attend the 11^th ASEAN Summit and related Summits from Dec. 11 to 14.

The President joins nine other leaders from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia to the four-day series of meetings and bilateral talks to further strengthen the economic, political and economic integration of the ASEAN members.

Meanwhile, Malacaņang reiterated its earlier statement that the so-called coup talks are just rumors and should be dismissed as quickly.

In a press briefing here, Press Secretary Ignacio R. Bunye said that the rumors were being spread by members of the opposition who are still hoping to grab power.

"I believe these rumors can be dismissed outright. We are confident that the professional loyalty of our Armed Forces is very strong. And these rumors that are being peddled by some segments of the political opposition carry the hallmarks of a dying opposition that is clutching at straws," Bunye said.