‘Outraged’ RP urges Myanmar to release Aung San Suu Kyi

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines on Sunday joined the mounting calls for junta-led Myanmar to release democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo denounced what he said were “trumped-up charges" against Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate who has already spent 13 years in detention for her nonviolent promotion of democracy. "The Philippine government is deeply troubled and outraged over the filing of trumped up charges against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her transfer to Insein prison, particularly when concerns have been raised regarding her health condition," Romulo said in a statement. “We urge the government to Myanmar to resolve the matter speedily, and to release Aung San Suu Kyi immediately and unconditionally," he added. Suu Kyi's detention was supposed to end on May 27, 2009, but Myanmar's military junta last Thursday charged her with breaking the terms of her house arrest. If convicted, she could be detained for another five years. World leaders, human rights groups, and fellow Nobel laureates condemned the move as an attempt by the junta to silence its chief opponent ahead of next year's election — which will be the first since Suu Kyi's party won the 1990 elections that the junta refused to recognize. Romulo, in his statement, dubbed Suu Kyi’s looming detention as an impediment to Myanmar’s road to democracy. “The Myanmar government need not be sidetracked by the recent trumped-up charges. As we have conveyed earlier, it is high time for the Myanmar government to carry out its own 'Roadmap for Democracy'," he said, referring to Myanmar's "long overdue" program of releasing political detainees like Suu Kyi. The Philippines is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) along with Myanmar as well as Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. - GMANews.TV