JAKARTA - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has confirmed that the 48th ASEAN Summit in Cebu will still be held on May 8-9, 2026, despite significant simplification of its implementation given the conflict in the Middle East.
Marcos said the decision was made based on consultations with leaders in Southeast Asia.
"We have asked our partners in the other 10 ASEAN member countries, and the question is very simple: Do you - because everyone is busy with the oil crisis, because of the war in the Middle East - want a postponement of the ASEAN Summit," said the President of the Philippines as reported by ANTARA from PNA-OANA, Friday, March 27.
"The consensus reached is that at this time we must coordinate our joint efforts. So, this is what we will do, we will continue to hold the ASEAN Summit," continued Marcos.
However, he said, the 48th ASEAN Summit will be held "very simply" with a focus on three main aspects, namely oil, food, and migrant labor.
According to the President of the Philippines, the upcoming ASEAN Summit will be important to help ASEAN leaders determine what can be done in the future, how ASEAN can help each other, and how ASEAN should take a stance on the dynamics that are happening.
"We will discuss these three main issues - about the supply of oil and oil products, about the supply of food and food prices, and about migrant workers," he said.
The 49th ASEAN Summit, which will be held in Pasay City on November 10-12, 2026, "tentatively" will still continue, given that the important agenda will be attended by world leaders, said Marcos.
As the chairmanship of ASEAN, the Philippines will hold up to 650 meetings at the ministerial and senior official levels this year.
Meanwhile, the head of the Philippine Senate had expressed support for the move to postpone this year's ASEAN Summit due to economic pressure from the war in the South China Sea and soaring oil prices.
The delay, if true, has the potential to save more than 17 billion pesos (Rp4.7 trillion) in budget.
The senate leadership proposed that the budget that was originally allocated for the ASEAN Summit could be diverted to mitigate the economic impact of the conflict in the East.
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