Aquino: Domestic front must be stable before I go on foreign trip

President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III on Monday said all matters on the domestic front will be stable first before he embarks on any foreign trip. "Let me be sure that the domestic front is well covered already and we're headed towards where we want to get to," Aquino said in an ambush interview after the Philippine Air Force’s 63rd anniversary celebration at Villamor Airbase. At the same time, he admitted that the upcoming Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in October would be "cost-effective" since he would have the opportunity to meet leaders of the 27-member European Union. “Napaka-cost effective, napaka-tempting na tanggapin kaagad 'yun," he said. (The trip is so cost-effective. It’s so tempting to accept and plan for that trip.) Earlier, Foreign Affairs undersecretary Erlinda Basilio said that President Aquino is required to represent the Philippines in various international events until November. These include the opening of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on the second Tuesday of September in the US, the ASEAN Summit in Hanoi and the Asia-Europe Meeting in Brussels, which will both be held in October, and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Yokohama in November. The UNGA meeting could be President Aquino’s “debut in the international community," Basilio said. An interfaith conference, which is being pushed by the Philippines, will take place in the UNGA margins, she added. President Aquino must attend the ASEAN summit in Hanoi because US President Barack Obama will meet Asean leaders and the Philippines is the coordinator of the US-Asean meeting. - RJAB Jr/KBK, GMANews.TV