The Philippines and Canada cannot shy away from the delicate and complex situation in the South China Sea, so both countries must work together to ensure stability in the region, a visiting Canadian senator said.
Speaking before select reporters at a dinner reception held by Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines David Hartman Wednesday, Senator Stanley Kutcher said the two sides must do that "to ensure that the guardrails that will provide for the rule of law" are protected.
Such guardrails must also be guarded to ensure the safety and security in the region, which "has tremendous impact on the globe," with 40 percent of the world's economy dependent on it, he added.
Kutcher is pushing not only for bilateral collaboration, but also for multilateralism, for this to be achieved.
"The smaller nations, like the Philippines, like Canada, like Japan, Korea, we really need to work together to ensure international rule of laws, that the core principles of democracy are followed," he said.
"So we want to work with like-minded nations to buffer the larger powers. Some of the larger powers seem to be less interested in the welfare of the small- and medium-sized nations. We want to make sure that we're working together," he added.
Inter-parliamentarian forum
Stanley is in Manila to head the delegation of six other Canadian senators and members of the Parliament for an inter-parliamentarian forum with Philippine counterparts that will run until Saturday.
He said such a forum is important to allow parliamentarians who have different perspectives to come together and discuss areas of mutual interest and mutual concern.
"[We want to] start to build those personal relationships [with other parliamentarians] that will continue... hopefully for many, many years," he said.
"And it is at these kinds of fora that we start to build relationships with parliamentarians from other countries, so that over the future, over the many years ahead, that we can know each other. And it's when we know each other that you can work together more easily and better," he added.
In his speech during the reception, Hartman told the visiting senators that the role of legislators in Philippine-Canadian relationship "is vital" more than ever.
He said legislators are needed "to assist in reducing barriers to trade and investment, rationalizing procurement laws, streamlining regulatory processes, protecting vulnerable ecosystems, maintaining a rules-based trading system and creating conditions for effective and mutually beneficial cooperation."
"We also need your help to make resources available to reinforce and strengthen democratic institutions, promote and protect human rights and safeguard the environment," Hartman told them.
The envoy said the Canadian and the Filipino people need their representatives in the Parliament to help build a robust people-to-people ties, which are in fact "fundamentally at the heart of everything that we do together."