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The President of the Thailand-Philippine Parliamentarians Friendship Group led the commission to visit the Republic of the Philippines in order to foster stronger bilateral relations between Thailand and the Philippines and to prepare to join the ASEAN Community in 2015. On this occasion, they paid homage and met for bilateral discussions with high priority people of the Philippine Parliament as follows: 1) Paid a courtesy call on H.E. Mr.Feliciano Belmonte, President of the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines and Hon Mr. Crispin Remulla, Vice President of the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines 2) Attended a bilateral meeting with Hon.Mr.Victor F. Ortega, Member of the House of Representatives, President of Thailand-Philippines Parliamentary Friendship Group. Both sides exchanged views on each agenda as follows:
1. Overview of Relationships
The President of the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines admired Thailand for many developments and asked Thailand to share knowledge of tourism, education and agriculture as well as praised Thailand for being able to manage the flood situation by using flood prevention measures. In terms of the Republic of the Philippines's economy, it imports auto parts from Thailand. Thailand and the Republic of Philippines also do Business of mutual trading in many aspects. In addition, the President of the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines personally ties with Thailand because his daughter, who is an archeologist, conducted research in Thailand for several months. Therefore, he had the opportunity to visit their daughters in Thailand often.
2. Establishment of the Philippine-Thai Parliamentarians Friendship Group
The President of the Thai-Philippines Parliamentarians Friendship Group congratulated the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines that have formed the Philippine-Thailand Parliamentarians Friendship Group with Hon. Mr. Victor F. Ortega as the initiator. Both countries believe that the work of the International of the Thai-Philippines Parliamentarians Friendship Group will be an important mechanism to strengthen legislative relations among them. Furthermore, the President of the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines invited the President of the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines and Philippine-Thai Parliamentarians Friendship Group to visit Thailand.
3. Preparation to support the joining of the ASEAN Community
The President of the Thai-Philippine Parliamentarians Friendship Group spoke about the preparation for unification of ASEAN community in 2015 that he believed that Thailand, Philippines and other Asian countries in Southeast Asia will benefit together.
Mr. Varongdej Kitvikrom, Executive Director of the Thai-Philippine Parliamentarians Friendship Group said that when joining into the ASEAN Community, the Republic of the Philippines will benefit because it has better English skill and it can produce a large number of English teachers abroad.
The President of the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines said that the Republic of Philippines had prepared a roadmap to support joining the ASEAN community, such as putting the ASEAN Member States to pressure China to accept the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).The United Nations condemned the confrontation between the Philippine warships and China in Scarborough Shoal, a disputed area in the South China Sea. The Philippines still has disputes with other countries, which must be solved for a good international relationship.
4. Industry
Vice President of the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines admired Thailand for being able to produce efficient sugar with lower production costs accounted for forty percent. The Commission on Agriculture has plans for a study trip to the sugar factory in Thailand to provide the Philippines with sugar water plant production with the same quality as that of Thailand. The President of the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines also said that Thailand has a large sugar factory especially in Nakhon Sawan.
Mr. Sakorn, a member of the Thai-Philippine Parliamentarians Friendship Group, spoke about industry in the south of Thailand where the palm trees are planted and produced too many products such as Palm oil, bio-diesel as renewable energy. Hon. Mr. Jesus N. Sacdalan,Member of the Philippine-Thai Parliamentary Friendship Group has mentioned the palm industry South of yhe Philippines is a great opportunity for the two countries to exchange knowledge with each other.
5. Social
Mr. Varong Dejvikrom, Executive Director of the Thai-Philippine Parliamentarians Friendship Group provided the information about contraception in Thailand that it was successful because of the support from the private sector. However, Thailand still faces the problem of having more elderly people and having fewer teenagers.
6. Economy, Trade and Finance
The President of the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines said the Philippines were not affected by the debt crisis situation in Europe because Europe is not an exporting country of the Philippines. The Philippine economy recorded a 6.4 percent growth rate, better than the previous quarter.
7. Politics
The President of the Philippine-Thai Parliamentarians Friendship Group said there will be a General Assembly meeting ASEAN in the Republic of Indonesia. It is a good opportunity for both parties to meet and exchange opinion between each other again.
President of the House of Representatives of the Republic of the Philippines thanked to the visiting of the President of Thailand-Philippine Parliamentarians Friendship Group and the commission and he looked forward to the opportunity to visit Thailand in the next opportunity.
8. Education (Distance Education System)
President of the Philippine-Thai Parliamentarians Friendship Group said it was a great pleasure to establish Philippine-Thai Parliamentarians Friendship Group with the desire to organize the joint activities. In addition, the Philippines learned about the distance education system from Thailand. It is a good system and very useful for Filipinos by adopting a distance education system in the country.
President of the Thai-Philippine Parliamentarians Friendship Group praised the Philippines for being able to adopt the knowledge of the distance education system of Thailand. He added that at present Thailand has a project of Lifelong study. The objective of the project is to enable Thai people to be able to learn throughout their lives.
A member of the Philippine-Thai Parliamentarians Friendship Group said that the Philippines' compulsory education system was a 10-year curriculum and it was different to Thai education system which is a 12-year curriculum. However, the Philippines is in the process of adjusting the compulsory education course to 12 years by achieving goals in the year 2016 so that the students who graduated with a bachelor's degree from the Philippines will be entitled to the same rights as other country students. In 2011, the government succeeded in the education system as there are many students from South Korea coming to study in the Philippines. The Philippines offers options for students who are unable to attend the class by adapting the distance education system of Thailand.
9. Agriculture
Hon.Mr.Jesus N.Sacdalan, Member of the Philippine-Thailand Parliamentarians Friendship Group mentioned about Thai agriculture and admired that he had the opportunity to visit Pattaya, Chonburi Province to study livestock work of Thailand which is considered as a good role model in management.
Hon. Mr. Omar C. Ebdane, a member of the Philippine-Thai Parliamentarians Friendship Group said he serves the Board of Directors on the Committee on Aquaculture and Fisheries Resources and The Tourism Commission and he is also a diver who is interested in coral restoration and he appreciates Thailand for having modern coral restoration technology.
Hon. Mr. Victor F. Ortega, President of the Philippine-Thai Parliamentarians Friendship Group, praised Thailand on the success in developing effective irrigation technology. Thailand is also the world's top rice exporter, so the Philippines aspire to learn technology and experience from Thailand due to the aim of producing enough rice to the domestic demand. Philippine agriculture has accelerated technology related to irrigation to assist farmers. He also praised the quality of Thai rice that is world-renowned. Although the price of Thai rice is high, it is accepted by five-star hotels or famous restaurants. However, the Philippines wishes Thailand considering the rice price at the appropriate level and the price should be compared with the price of rice in ASEAN region too.
Mr. Varongdej Kitvikrom, Executive Director of Thai-Philippine Parliamentarians Friendship Group, said that the rising price of Thai rice is a factor from the Thai government. He expressed his opinion that in 2011, Thailand and neighboring countries will not be the world's number one rice exporter due to the statistics of India's rice exports being very high. Furthermore, the selling price of Thai rice is at 600 USD per ton while India and Vietnam sell rice at 400 USD per ton. Thus, in the future when joining the ASEAN community, it is necessary to cooperate and exchange opinion with each other and it will make the people or civil society benefit from the integration of the ASEAN Community in 2015. In addition, it was suggested that both Thailand and the Philippines should have a study visit. Thai parliament as a legislative institution will be a coordinator. I terms of Thailand's agricultural technology, it has been developed with a great progress. Both sides should exchange knowledge on agricultural technology such as exchange farmers’ projects of both countries.
10. Tourism
Hon. Ms. Zenaida B. Angping, Member of the Philippine-Thai Parliamentarians Friendship Group said that many Filipino tourists travel to Thailand, preferring to go to the beach and go shopping and he also added the travel slogan of the Philippines as, “It's more fun to visit the Philippines”. The Philippine Minister of Tourism has a policy to promote World tourism.
Keywords The Philippines, Legislation, Friendship Group, ASEAN Community, Tourism, Rice, Oil Palm,Politics, Economy, Society and Culture
Pillars Politics and Security, Economy, Society and Culture
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