President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. confirmed Friday that the 48th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Leaders’ Summit and Related Summits in Cebu on May 8 to 9 will push through, following consultations with fellow Southeast Asian leaders.
Marcos said he asked counterparts from the 10 other member-states whether they would prefer to postpone the summit amid ongoing global challenges, including the war in the Middle East and rising oil prices.
The consensus, he said, was to proceed with the meetings.
“The consensus that we came to is that it is precisely now that we must coordinate our efforts. So, that is what we are going to do. Ipapatuloy natin ‘yung ASEAN Summit,” Marcos said.
The President noted that the summit will be conducted on a “very bare bones” basis, focusing on three key topics: oil, food, and migrant workers.
He emphasized that the discussions aim to determine ASEAN’s coordinated approach for the rest of the year and to address the shocks affecting the region.
“We will be talking about the three main subjects – about the supply of petroleum and petroleum products, about the supply of food and the price of food and migrant workers,” Marcos said.
Marcos also confirmed that the 49th ASEAN Summit, scheduled for Nov. 10 to 12 in Pasay City, will tentatively proceed, as it is a major engagement that other world leaders are expected to attend.
As chair of ASEAN in 2026, the Philippines will host 650 ministerial and senior official meetings throughout the year.
Earlier, some Senate leaders had suggested postponing the country’s hosting of this year’s ASEAN Summit due to economic pressures caused by Middle East tensions and surging oil prices.
They proposed reallocating the P17 billion budget originally intended for hosting the summit to help offset economic impacts.
