President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Wednesday underscored the importance of inter-parliamentary coordination among the member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to synergize regional efforts toward tackling shared challenges, such as climate change and transnational threats.

During his intervention in the ASEAN Leaders’ Interface with Representatives from the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), Marcos said the regional bloc should also focus its efforts on upholding a rules-based international order anchored in international law.

“We thank the AIPA for continuing to support our vision for a rules-based, people-oriented, and people-centered ASEAN,” he said.

One of the recommendations for ASEAN to achieve shared regional aspiration, Marcos said, is maintaining open communication and effective collaboration between the executive and legislative bodies to harmonize the laws and regulations across the region.

“Through such a partnership, we can realize in the domestic arena agreed strategies for collaboration and identify laws which are needed to harness new opportunities for the region as well as address emerging regional challenges,” he added.

Marcos said ASEAN members share the same concerns regarding the increasing misuse of innovative technological applications to facilitate trafficking in persons, which requires concerted cooperation between the legislative and executive bodies to be resolved.

He said that for this instance, a robust legal framework and an effective enforcement mechanism that complement each other must be created to reinforce national and regional cooperation against trafficking in persons.

Marcos highlighted AIPA’s role as a bridge to connect ASEAN with the people by communicating the importance of a cohesive regional grouping.

He said having a cohesive regional grouping could unify the members with a stronger sense of one ASEAN vision, one ASEAN Community.

Aside from acting as a bridge, Marcos said, AIPA should also amplify the voices of the region’s people through AIPA’s collaboration with its foreign partners to advance the aspirations of the people in the region.

AIPA serves as the center of communication and information among Member Parliaments in the ASEAN. It aims to encourage understanding, cooperation, and close relations among Member Parliaments as well as Observer Member Parliaments and other parliamentary organizations. (PNA)