By ANTHONY IAN CRUZ
January 15, 2008
Even as the Philippine National Police (PNP) announced the filing of criminal charges against Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) officials in connection with the explosion that hit the plush Glorietta 2 mall, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has tapped the Ayala Foundation Inc. (AFI) to play a key role in an international conference to be held in Manila in October 2008.
The DFA and AFI signed on Monday a memorandum of agreement designating the the latter as convenor of the so-called “civil society days” in the forthcoming second Global Forum on Migration and Development to be hosted by the government.
DFA undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr. and Ayala Foundation president Vicky Garchitorena signed the memorandum in the presence of DFA secretary Alberto Romulo, Ayala chief Fernando Zobel de Ayala and SGV and Co. founding chair Washington Sycip at the Ayala Museum in Makati City.
“Civil society days”
The second GFMD will will feature back-to-back meetings by civil society organizations and government representatives.
The “civil society days” on Oct. 27-28 aim to attract about 200 organizations and to provide them an opportunity to “delineate, discuss and digest national and international migrant issues
It will feature parallel workshops, roundtable discussions and plenary sessions on migrant issues.
The output and recommendations by participating organizations will be presented to the GFMD’s government meetings slated on Oct. 29-30.
Participants to the two meetings of civil society organizations and government officials are set to hold an informal joint session on Oct. 29.
Conejos said the government is confident that most, if not all, of the United Nation’s 194 member-states will send representatives to the Manila meeting.
“This is an opportunity for countries to present their best practices,” said Conejos.
Mum
At the open forum following the signing of the memorandum, government officials and private sector leaders were mum over the ongoing tiff between the PNP and the Ayala group on the nature of the explosion that killed 11 persons and injured scores more.
This year’s GFMD will carry the theme “protecting and empowering migrants for development” and will involve three “general roundtable topics”, namely, migration, development and human rights; secure, legal migration; and policy and institutional coherence and partnerships.
RP, unanimous choice
Brussels hosted the first GFMD in July 2007 with 200 delegates to the “civil society days” and representatives from 160 states in the government meeting.
The Philippines was unanimously chosen by delegates to the Brussels meeting to be the host of the second GFMD.
The GFMD is an offshoot of the High Level Dialogue on Migration organized by the UN in New York in Sept. 2006.
According to a briefer by the Ayala Foundation, the Philippines’ hosting of the GFMD is both “timely and most appropriate” because “issues on migration are very close to the hearts of Filipinos” .
“A significant number of Filipino families have a member of family or a relative working abroad. Thus, any development programs that would protect their rights and ensure greater returns for services rendered by migrants are most welcome by the country,” the briefer added. ###