00:00In the middle of the activities of President Bongbong Marcos for the ASEAN Summit,
00:05he also helped some officials for the mandatory evacuation of Filipinos in Lebanon.
00:12That is a very big problem.
00:15From the Lao People's Democratic Republic,
00:19Ivan Mayrin is live. Ivan?
00:22Yes, well, in the formal opening of the ASEAN Summit today,
00:29President Bongbong Marcos immediately emphasized the importance of following the international law
00:34on the issue of the Segalote in the South China Sea,
00:36where not only the Philippines is affected,
00:39but other member states of ASEAN as well.
00:42Meanwhile, while he was in retirement,
00:44he helped government agencies to order the evacuation of Filipinos
00:48who are in trouble in Lebanon.
00:57In the middle of his participation in the ASEAN Summit here in Laos,
01:00the President asked for this help to the officials of the BFA and Defense Department.
01:05This is to talk about the preparation in case they need to force the evacuation
01:09or mandatory evacuation of Filipinos who are in trouble in Lebanon
01:13in the middle of the Israeli missile attacks.
01:16Alert Level 3 is still in effect in Lebanon,
01:19but if the situation worsens,
01:20it may be raised to Alert Level 4
01:22when the mandatory evacuation will be carried out.
01:26We are now going to evacuate our people by whatever means, by air or by sea.
01:32And let's make all the preparations so that all our assets are near.
01:37The embassy gives us the all clear,
01:41and they say that our people can go.
01:44We can go out immediately.
01:45They are not waiting for a long time in a dangerous area.
01:52The President also attended the bilateral meeting of the Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Ching
01:56which is focused on improving the relationship between the Philippines and Vietnam
01:59in agriculture and agriculture.
02:01Vietnam is one of the first countries to import rice from the Philippines.
02:06But there is also a clear difference between the two countries.
02:09Both have a part of the South China Sea
02:11that is part of their Exclusive Economic Zone
02:14that is owned by China and is already involved in its harassment.
02:18There is an ongoing agreement on incident prevention between the Philippines and Vietnam,
02:23a mechanism to avoid tension in climate countries.
02:28But will the one-on-one agreement be enough for the Philippines' neighbors in ASEAN?
02:32Before taking office, President Bongbong Marcos gave the importance of ASEAN
02:39to important issues in the region, especially in the South China Sea
02:43that is owned by China and is becoming more aggressive
02:46because of the claim of the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, and Indonesia
02:50as ASEAN member states.
02:52A decade of building a code of conduct has been pushed forward,
02:56but so far it has not been completed.
02:58The push for consensus on the agreement
03:00is still the theme of the Prime Minister of the Lao PDR
03:03in his speech in front of fellow leaders earlier.
03:07In the midst of a changing and escalating situation,
03:09the position of the Philippines remains
03:11and continues to pursue international law,
03:14something that the President did today in his intervention.
03:18I didn't specify the details,
03:20but that's the general principle of the adherence to the rule of law
03:27and the UNCLOS.
03:30Just as a general thing,
03:33we will have a chance to get into more detail maybe in the next couple of days.
03:43Mel, the President is referring to the next couple of days
03:47between ASEAN and the so-called dialogue partners,
03:52including China, America, India, and New Zealand.
03:56Meanwhile, Mel, the President just finished
03:59ASEAN Business and Investment Summit
04:01where he invited leaders to invest in the field of green metal,
04:06battery manufacturing, data centers, and agribusiness.
04:10Mel.
04:11Ivan, thank you.
04:13But let's go back to the President's order
04:15to prepare for the possible mandatory evacuation in Lebanon.
04:19What will be the trigger of the government
04:22to raise the alert level 4?
04:24What is the situation there that our government is waiting for?
04:28Ivan.
04:32Mel, the definition of alert level,
04:35the conditions to raise alert level 4
04:38is the so-called large-scale internal conflict
04:41or the widespread chaos within the country,
04:44or an external attack from outside the country.
04:48And Mel, that judgment, that decision,
04:52will come from the people on the ground,
04:56meaning the embassy and the DFA.
04:59They will decide if it's time to raise the alert level 4
05:03and enforce the forced evacuation, Mel.
05:06But the President said that everything is ready
05:11for the mandatory evacuation he wants.
05:15Ivan.
05:19Yes, Mel.
05:20That is the reason why even though he is here,
05:24he called for an emergency meeting
05:27with the Department of National Defense,
05:30the Department of Foreign Affairs,
05:32and the Department of Migrant Workers
05:34because he wants to be prepared
05:36if our countrymen who are trapped there need to be evacuated quickly.
05:41He said, by any means necessary.
05:44He wants to deploy all government resources
05:48to get our countrymen trapped in Lebanon.
05:52Thank you very much, Ivan Meirina.
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