Communicating Asia; The Katipunan of today

I was in China and Korea recently to meet with other journalists to organize media forums in the region.

In China, members from Philippine media were given a tour that gave us a sampling of how much this country has progressed, First stop was to visit the Suzhou Industrial Park, created mainly with facilities for innovation. This is also the birthplace of I.M. Pei, the renowned Chinese architect who designed the glass triangle in front of the Louvre in Paris.

From there we were off on a high speed train (the Chinese do not want to call it bullet train, a term used for Japanese fast train) to Dezhou in Shandong province where we visited the tomb of the Sultan of Sulu who died while visiting the Emperor of China. I think this was the highlight of the tour, as a way of reminding us just how long Filipinos and Chinese have been friends.

The rest of the tour was devoted to show how China communicates with its neighbors and the rest of the world. Like most media tours we visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and attended its daily press conference. We visited the China Radio International and the China Institute of International Studies. It was only later that I would know why Filipino journalists were not part of the organization of a media forum that would facilitate the work of the AIIB. The Philippines is not yet a member.

I learned about this only later when I read a report on the conference in China and the organization of a media forum for the region. It is sad that we could not be represented on what is perhaps the most important economic initiative of China for development in our part of the world.

In Seoul, I was the only Filipino present. I was told that the organizational meeting of the ICAAP Media Forum was the result of a resolution I had filed with the standing committee in Nanning in 2011.

Former Speaker Jose de Venecia who is a founding chairman of ICAAP said it took some time to approve the resolution. It was only coincidental that the ICAAP Media Forum was being organized at the same time as China’s Media Forum in Nanning.

No doubt, the 1st Meeting of the ICAPP Media Forum was a success. The meeting was participated in by representatives of 15 political parties from 12 countries. With two media forums in the region, expect a lot of activity to exchange information.

At the meeting elected Secretary General Hwang Jin-ha, of Saenuri (New Frontier) Party, and president of the ICAPP Parliamentarians’ Union in the Korean National Assembly, Republic of Korea was elected chairperson and yours truly as a co-chairperson. The meeting also elected four vice chairpersons.

In his letter Chung Eui-yong, co-chairman of the Standing Committee?and secretary general of the ICAPP in Seoul, Korea wrote that the discussions were lively with questions on the objective of the group. The objective of the group is “Cooperation to Build an Asian Community.” Visitors from Pakistan, Nepal and Iran asked if the C in the word Community was spelled with a capital or a small letter therefore used only as a general term.

Mr. Chung emphasized we will take it step by step. The journalists came from print, broadcast and digital media groups from Azerbaijan, Cambodia, India, Iran, Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Turkey.

The letter also acknowledged “that the ICAPP has now become a positive political force to promote mutual understanding and friendship among Asian countries and peoples representing over 350 political parties in 52 countries in the region with diverse political and ideological backgrounds.”

A media forum was necessary for this objective. First in the line of proposals was to create a website which the participants can use for contacting each other and the Secretariat based in Seoul.

It also expressed support for ICAPP’s efforts to reach out to other regions in the world, such as holding annual joint sessions with the COPPPAL, the Permanent Conference of Political Parties in Latin America and the Caribbean since 2009, and helping establish the CAPP, the Council of African Political Parties in 2013.

“We also encouraged the ICAPP to establish contacts with organizations of political parties in Europe as well, and expressed our hope that the ICAPP will eventually develop into a global institution encompassing all political parties in the world regardless of differences in ideological orientations. In this regard, we welcomed the ICAPP’s initiative to hold the first trilateral meeting among the representatives of the ICAPP, COPPPAL and CAPP in Indonesia in April 2016.’

We also supported the ICAPP’s bid for observer status in the UN General Assembly.

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The group was especially interested when I told them about  a new and upcoming national political party in the Philippines – the Katipunan Political Party. Those who know Philippine history congratulated me for what they called a breakthrough in Philippine politics in which marginalized sectors are excluded from mainstream politics. The historical Katipunan fought a war of independence while the present one is fighting for good governance.

The full name of the group is Katipunan ng mga Manggagawa at Magsasaka ng Pilipinas. The TUCP-led national political party is the broadest constituency-based political organization, composed of workers, farmers, fisherfolks, overseas Filipino workers, workers in the informal economy, those in precarious employment (contractuals), and other marginalized sectors of Philippine society. They were eager to know how it would develop. In addition to labor, farmers, fisherfolk and workers in the informal economy sectors, Katipunan members come from 12 other sectors, namely: workers in the informal economy, overseas Filipino workers, urban poor, persons with disabilities (PWDs), senior citizens, youth, women, indigenous peoples, faith-based organizations, business, professionals, cooperatives, and advocacy groups like Sagot Kita Bayan (SKB).”

After the successful interim convention and submission of Katipunan’s Petition for Registration with the Commission of Elections, it will actively embark on a recruitment campaign led by TUCP affiliate federation presidents, education officers, lead organizers, and campaigns officers.

At the end of the program, an initial trade union cadres or Katipuneros composed of some 50 union leaders, would have been organized and oriented to undertake a massive membership campaign for the Party.