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Philippines: Aquino suggested as Sp
- Subject: Philippines: Aquino suggested as Sp
- From: nin@xxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 09:30:00
Subject: Philippines: Aquino suggested as Special Envoy to Burma
Philippines: Aquino Suggested as Special Envoy To Burma
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MANILA (AP-Dow Jones)--A lawmaker proposed on Friday that former
President Corazon Aquino go to Burma as a special envoy to convey
Philippine concern about a crackdown on the pro-democracy movement.
Representative Ranjit Shahani, a nephew of President Fidel Ramos,
made the suggestion during a hearing on Philippine policy toward
Burma.
Burma has repeatedly denied Aquino a visa for talks with Nobel
laureate and pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi.
Shahani described the visa rejections for Aquino as a 'slap on the
face of the Filipino people.'
Aquino wasn't immediately available for comment.
While the Philippines supports Burma's military government, the
State Law and Order Restoration Council, 'we have to express our
concern about the anti-democratic tendencies being undertaken by
the military junta, which is brutal and self-serving,' Shahani
said. In a speech at a U.S. State Department ceremony where she was
awarded the J. William Fulbright Prize for International
Understanding earlier this month, Aquino urged U.S. officials and
other international leaders to support democracy in Burma in the
same way they backed her a decade ago.
Aquino took office after a 'people power' revolution in February
1986 ousted the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos. She said she had
tried several times to visit Suu Kyi, but military rulers refused
her entry.
(END) AP-DOW JONES NEWS 25-10-96
1053GMT