Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Following the signing of a boundary agreement between the Philippines and Indonesia, a Malacanang official revealed that they are also seeking similar deals with the country’s neighbors.
“There have been number of discussions with other countries, not only with Indonesia, not only with Vietnam, Malaysia and all the other countries as well and also in the Asia Pacific Economic Community,” Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said at the sidelines of the 23rd World Economic Forum on East Asia.
The historic signing of the document that delimits the respective Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of the two countries came at a time when Southeast Asian countries are at conflict with China’s overlapping territorial claims.
“Certainly dialogues will go a very long way. And resorting always to a legal and diplomatic tract will always solve hopefully the most difficult of issues,” Lacierda said, a day after Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told WEF delegates that his country’s conflict with China threatens regional security and trade.
Lacierda said President Benigno Aquino III had always emphasized that the “key to prosperity is stability.”
“The three agreements we signed with Indonesia shows the closeness that we have and the kind of stability that we foster. We continue to speak to each other, especially amongst Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), emphasizing the centrality of Asean,” he added.
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