PEACE-MAKER Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, the longest-serving leader in Asia, is stepping down from his position to give way to his eldest son, Hun Manet, who won his seat in parliament in last Sunday’s general election. Many younger lawmakers are also said to be appointed to ministerial...
PEACE-MAKER As our modest contribution in strengthening partnership and linkages between Asia and Europe, we in the 350-member International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) together with the European People’s Party (EPP), European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR), and...
PEACE-MAKER In the course of our modest ventures into political party and parliamentary diplomacy in Asia and the international community, we consistently spoke about the need to develop a system of ideas and ideals that will make globalization work for all our peoples. In our view, the East Asian...
PEACE-MAKER Since the bloody conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began in Khartoum in the middle of April this year, nearly three million people have been displaced, including some 650,000 who have fled to neighboring countries. About 3,000 people have been...
PEACE-MAKER The lingering conflicts and potential flashpoints in Asia, with possible wide-ranging catastrophic consequences, obstruct our region’s progress and peaceful development. While there exists a number of mechanisms to promote peace and resolve conflicts, we believe there is a need to...
PEACE-MAKER In October 2010, we travelled to San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, following our trip to Buenos Aires two years earlier, where we explored ways and means of cooperation between our Asia-wide organization, ICAPP, the International Conference of Asian Political Parties, and...
PEACE-MAKER As the whole world celebrates Father’s Day next Sunday, June 18, we wish to pay tribute to our beloved father, the late Jose Ravago de Venecia Sr. After World War II, our father served as Judge at Large for the entire Bicol region, appointed by the late President Manuel Roxas, first...
PEACE-MAKER The recent happenings in the Lakas-CMD (Christian-Muslim Democrats) brought back memories of the beginnings of the party as well as the many challenges and struggles we and our partymates faced together. When we, together with then former Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos and former...
PEACE-MAKER In April 2016, the organizations of political parties of Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa convened for the first time in Jakarta to explore ways and means of economic and political cooperation among our three continents. The historic (in a sense) meeting was held among...
PEACE-MAKER Since early 2020, we have been spending most of our time in our Dagupan City home, which is a short walking distance from the Lingayen Gulf, where General Douglas MacArthur and, earlier, General Masaharu Homma landed on Jan. 9, 1945 and Dec. 22, 1941, respectively. To this day, we...
PEACE-MAKER The city of our birth, Dagupan, by the edge of Lingayen Gulf, lies close to the pilgrim town of Manaoag, where devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary is a faith cast in stone. Our earliest memory of our town was an area of lowlands in the midst of swamps nestled by the South China Sea. In...
PEACE-MAKER Cambodia makes history as it hosts for the first time the 2023 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, which is currently being held in capital Phnom Penh from May 5 to 17. It was supposed to host the games in 1963 but did not push through due to the political situation in the country at the time....
