Aquino names new RP envoy to ASEAN

President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III has named a former deputy secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as the Philippines' new permanent representative to the ASEAN. A Malacañang statement released Thursday said Aquino has appointed Dr. Wilfrido Villacorta as the replacement of Ambassador Orlando Mercado. The president made the announcement Wednesday night. Aside from being a former deputy secretary-general of the ASEAN, Villacorta was a delegate to the 1986 Constitutional Commission that drafted the 1987 Constitution. The Palace statement said Villacorta sponsored provisions on education, science and culture, rights of children, the right to public information, and co-sponsored provisions on social justice and human rights, equality of men and women, and the ban on nuclear weapons. Villacorta is a professor emeritus in the De La Salle University and a member-commissioner of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Oganization (UNESCO) National Commission of the Philippines. According to the Palace statement, the permanent representatives of ASEAN countries support the work of ASEAN Community Councils and ASEAN Sectoral Ministerial Bodies; liaise with ASEAN national secretariats and other officials; and work on ASEAN cooperation with external partners, among others. Aquino is currently in Vietnam for the ASEAN summit that will last until Saturday. He is expected to return to Manila Sunday. At the summit, Aquino is expected to push for greater regional cooperation, particularly for the creation of a code of conduct on the South China Sea where territories such as the Spratly Islands are being disputed. — Jam Sisante/RSJ, GMANews.TV