The United Nations (UN) should we abolished. That’s what Philippine Speaker of the House Pantaleon Alvarez suggested in a radio interview yesterday, a move he believes will help lessen Western influence in the region.
“Now, for me, my proposal is, let’s just stick to Asia — United Nations of Asia, right?” he said on radio station DZMM in Filipino. “We will be able to protect our interests here in Asia. We don’t need Western nations to meddle because, in the first place, their economy is already going down. They’re just dependent on Asia.”
Pantaleon, who is a staunch supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte, said this when he was asked to comment on a report from United States intel agencies that called the president a “regional threat” to democracy in the region.
The Philippines is a former US colony and the two have been allies for decades. But Pantaleon thinks it’s time to change relations between the two countries.
“The report really is a warning shot for the administration, for our nation, to stand up to the Americans. They’ve been meddling in our affairs for a long time. We now need to show that they shouldn’t meddle in our sovereignty,” he said.
This comes days after a US aircraft carrier with about 40 fighter jets and 5,000 American sailors arrived in Manila to establish an American presence in the country as China continues activities in Philippine territory.
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Pantaleon’s comments mimic a stand Duterte has been vocal about since the beginning of his presidency. During a speech addressed to Chinese government officials in October 2016, Duterte said that he would cut ties with the US and will “realign” his ideologies to China’s.
“I announce my separation from the United States both in the military but economics also,” he said.
He later took this back and clarified that he just wants to change foreign policies between the two countries and to stop simply following everything the US says.
Pantaleon’s comments about the UN isn’t the first time the administration said it wanted nothing to do with the organization.
In October, Duterte told UN envoys in the Philippines to leave the country within 24 hours as they continued to criticize his war on drugs. He also said he did not mind if the Philippines is removed from the UN.
A month later, he said he would slap UN special rapporteur Agnes Callamard if she investigates him for the thousands of extra-judicial killings happening all over the country.
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