PEACE-MAKER We are saddened by the recent passing of our dear friend and one of the Philippines’ most accomplished diplomats, Lauro Baja Jr., who served our country with great distinction as Foreign Affairs Undersecretary, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and Ambassador to various...
PEACE-MAKER The Manila Bulletin celebrated its 124th anniversary last Feb. 15, where it launched the “Newsmakers of the Year Award,” honoring organizations and individuals who, in the words of the media giant’s president, Emilio C. Yap III, “not only captured the nation’s imagination, but...
PEACE-MAKER (This is part of our column dated June 27, 2021, entitled, “President Noynoy Aquino served with honor and dignity; the need for a strong party system”) After decades as a politician and political party founder, we have spent these past 11 years just observing the...
PEACE-MAKER Our recent trip to Bangkok with wife Gina brought back memories of our numerous visits when we brought together Asia’s political groupings into the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP); and our national legislatures into the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA),...
PEACE-MAKER We traveled recently to the Chinese cities of Xiamen and Lijiang with wife Gina, our friend Tetta Agustin, and our assistants on long-standing invitation by our old friend, Chinese entrepreneur Chen Youhou, who owns a hotel in both cities. Xiamen is a port city in southeastern...
PEACE-MAKER Our wife Gina and we visited former President Joseph Estrada in his home several days ago. As some may know, then Vice President Erap Estrada and we ran against each other and eight other candidates during the 1998 presidential elections. We came out second to him in a highly...
PEACE-MAKER During the first half of 2024, several countries in Asia will hold its presidential or parliamentary elections: Bangladesh (Jan. 28), Azerbaijan (Feb. 7), Pakistan (Feb. 8), Indonesia (Feb. 14), Iran (March 1), Russia (March 17), Republic of Korea (April 10), India (April-May), and...
PEACE-MAKER As Speaker of the House of Representatives and in the course of our modest foray in parliamentary and political party diplomacy, we have had the privilege of meeting U.N. Secretaries-General U Thant, Javier Perez de Cuellar, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Kofi Anan, and Ban Ki-moon, all men of...
By SENATOR MUSHAHID HUSSAIN (The author is co-chairman of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties, which former Speaker Jose de Venecia founded and launched in Manila in 2000 and which now represents 352 political parties from 52 countries in Asia. He also co-founded with JDV the...
PEACE-MAKER We mourn the passing last December 8 of our dear friend, the industrialist Dr. Chen Lipkeong of Malaysia. A medical doctor-turned businessman — with interests in property, energy, and gaming — Dr. Chen was also known for his philanthropic works not only in his beloved country but...
PEACE-MAKER On Dec. 8, 2021, we in the 350-member International Conference of Political Parties (ICAPP) conducted a special conference on climate change, as our modest collective contribution in the battle against climate change. Ban Ki-moon, the 8th Secretary General of the United Nations,...
PEACE-MAKER Before the demise of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011, another Middle East strongman with whom we also had interesting encounters fell from power in December 2003: Saddam Hussein. As with Gaddafi, we first met him in the 1970s when we were a pioneering businessman in the...
