JEDDAH, 23 April 2006 — The Philippines’ bid for membership in the United Nation’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) got a big boost yesterday from the Asian Group in the world body, the Philippine mission to the UN said in a statement.
It said the 54-member group endorsed the Philippines’ bid during a meeting in New York on Thursday.
“The endorsement is a great leap forward and ensures our getting elected during the 61st General Assembly in October where I expect the Philippines to get the required two-thirds of UN members present and voting,” Ambassador Lauro L. Baja Jr., the Philippines’ permanent representative to the UN, was quoted as saying in a report to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo in Manila.
Ambassador Baja said the mission began lobbying strongly for the Asian Group endorsement in December — the last month of Manila’s tenure as an elected member of the UN Security Council.
“We were successful in our bid for the Asian Group’s endorsement because we were able to ride on the respect and goodwill we earned during our two-year term in the Security Council,” Ambassador Baja wrote Romulo.
The ECOSOC is the principal organ of the UN that is tasked to coordinate economic, social, and related work of the 14 UN specialized agencies, 10 functional commissions and five regional commissions. It also receives reports from 11 UN funds and programs.
It assists the General Assembly in promoting international economic and social cooperation and development. All members of the Council are elected by the General Assembly for a three-year term.
According to the statement, the Philippines last sat as a member of the body from 1992 to 1997.
Baja was quoted as saying in the statement that the Philippine membership in the Council “will also add more weight to our initiatives in the UN such as debt for equity, migration and trafficking.”
The statement said Manila’s candidacy in the ECOSOC follows its historic two-year membership in the Security Council that was capped by a Philippine-initiated summit of leaders of the 15 member states that was presided over by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in September.
