PEACE-MAKER
Jose de Venecia Jr.
Former Speaker of the House
The enormous outpouring of grief and tributes around the world over the death of Queen Elizabeth II are testaments of how revered Britain’s longest-serving monarch was.
Indeed, she was a figure of continuity and stability for the British people during her 70-year reign. Her death plunges her grieving country into a historic transition amid the political and economic uncertainties.
The United Kingdom had been into a political turmoil for several months, leading to the resignation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The new prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party, Liz Truss, has been in office only for a few days.
With the Queen’s death, the 73-year-old Prince Charles has ascended the British throne, taking the name King Charles III. He is the oldest to become monarch in British history and the first king since 1952.
Then Prince Charles visited Manila in July 1997, where he was received by then President Fidel V. Ramos in Malacañang.
London was home to us in the early 1980s, when we were a pioneering businessman overseeing our Filipino-led projects in the Middle East and North Africa.
We were then engaged in port operations, infrastructure and electrification in Saudi Arabia; oil drilling in the United Arab Emirates (UAE); mass housing in Iraq; and infrastructure in Libya as prime contractor, not as labor recruiter, contending then with large international companies. We coordinated these business ventures from our office in the British capital while travelling to the various Arab capitals every month.
It had been some 40 years since we left London and moved back to Manila.
The last time we travelled to London was in May 2018 when we addressed the second meeting of leaders of parliaments and political parties from Asia and Europe, under the Asia-Europe Political Forum (AEPF), a subsidiary group of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP), which convenes once a year.
We congratulate our friend Teodoro Locsin, Jr. who was appointed Philippine Ambassador to the United Kingdom last Aug. 30.
He previously served as ambassador to the United Nations and then Secretary of Foreign Affairs during the Duterte administration. He also served in the House of Representatives for three terms, representing the first district of Makati.
Teddy Boy brings to his new post his brilliance, eloquence and wealth of experience as diplomat, lawmaker, lawyer, writer and editor.
As part of our continuing effort to promote dialogue, understanding and cooperation in Asia and the international community, we in the International Conference of Asian Political Parties will conduct this year special conferences highlighting the crucial role of political parties in nation-building and in contributing to peace and prosperity in our region and around the world.
The first will be on “Asia’s political development through political parties” to be held in Seoul in late September, co-hosted by South Korea’s ruling People Power Party, led by current president Yoon Seok-youl, and by the Democratic Party, the party of former President Moon Jae-in.
Another will be on “Security and cooperation: Role of political parties” in Baku, Azerbaijan in late November, to be hosted by the ruling New Azerbaijan Party led by President Ilham Aliyev.
We will also hold our 11th general assembly in Istanbul in early November, to be hosted by the ruling Ak Parti and which will be graced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior leaders of the party and the Turkish government, like Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy.