The Philippines shares the deep concerns that the United Nations has over the continued detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), according to Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas F. Ople.

Secretary Ople stated this position in his reply to the letter of Mr. Razali Ismail, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Myanmar. In a 2-page letter to the Secretary dated 2 July 2003, Mr. Razali shared the deep concerns and perspectives of Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the developments in Myanmar, particularly the continued detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the leaders of the NLD.

"I welcome this exchange of views with the UN Special Envoy for Myanmar and the common spirit that motivates us to work together to address the issue of Myanmar," the Secretary said.

"For our part, I told Mr. Razali that we have taken every opportunity to inform Myanmar of our concerns and that we have formally asked for the release of Daw Suu Kyi and her political leaders and will continue to do so until such release. We are also determined to work with others to convince Myanmar to institute true and meaningful democratic reforms and national reconciliation," the Secretary added.

"I also told Mr. Razali that I intend to maintain the advocacy position that the Philippines took during the recent ASEAN Ministerial and Related Meetings in Phnom Penh. I also intend to pursue the proposal for ASEAN to send a ministerial delegation to Myanmar to meet with Daw Suu Kyi and to discuss with Myanmar authorities how best ASEAN can assist Myanmar in increasing its efforts at democratic reform. I hope to join this ASEAN Group in visiting Myanmar. As I have said publicly, when the ASEAN group goes to Myanmar, we intend to meet Daw Suu Kyi not as a prisoner but as a free person," the Secretary said. END.