The Philippines expressed deep concern over the recent escalation of violence in Myanmar and calls on security forces to exercise restraint and refrain from using excessive force against unarmed demonstrators.
“The Philippine government reiterates its call for a complete restoration of the status quo ante and allow State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to play her unifying role,” the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement.
The readout advises Filipinos in Myanmar “to avoid places of protest, monitor developments through reputable sources, and check with the Philippine Embassy in Yangon for further advisories.”
At least 38 people in Myanmar died after security forces tried to put down anti-coup protests on Wednesday, UN special envoy Christine Schraner Burgener said.
Multiple reports from several cities and towns, police and military used live ammunition, as well as tear gas and rubber bullets, to quell protests in the deadliest day since demonstrations against February’s coup broke out.
“Today it was the blackest day since the coup happened on the first of February. Today, 38 people died,” Schraner Burgener said.
She said videos showing violence against journalists and the shooting of a protester were “very disturbing.”
“It seems that the police used weapons like 9 mm submachine guns. So, live ammunition,” Schraner Burgener said, calling on UN member states to employ all tools available “to stop this situation” and called for unity within the international community, a day after neighboring countries called for the government to use restraint.
“It’s up to the member states to take the right measures,” she said.
The DFA said there are 1,273 Filipinos in Myanmar, although 139 of them have opted to be repatriated following the coup leading to Aung San Suu Kyi arrest and detention.
The Monywa Gazette reported at least six people were shot dead in the city of Monywa in the country’s Sagaing region. The central city has turned out large anti-coup demonstrations in the past month.
Two demonstrators, reported to have been a 37-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman, were also killed in the second city of Mandalay.
At least one individual was killed and others injured in the central town of Myingyan, with reports of another fatality unconfirmed.
Myanmar has faced chaos since February 1 when the military staged a coup and arrested de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Foreign Affairs Secretary, Teodoro Locsin Jr., called for the full restoration of the feisty leader of Myanmar, without precondition.
“The restoration of one irreplaceable individual—Daw Aung San Suu Kyi—to her former preeminence is the sine qua non to the right resolution of the Myanmar situation,” Locsin tweeted shortly following Suu Kyi’s arrest.
“Marx was wrong; Carlyle was right: individuals make history. By her pedigree and personal sacrifice she is it.”
Locsin said “the Philippines recognizes Suu Kyi’s “unifying role in her country’s history and in its destiny.”
The coup brought to a halt Myanmar’s decade-long experiment with more democratic governance and sparked daily mass protests.
The military regime in Myanmar on Tuesday said it had suspended its envoy to the United Nations, the Aung San Suu Kyi-appointed Kyaw Moe Tun. However, Tun has contradicted this, saying he should stay in post.
Aung San Suu Kyi is the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2021.
Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party was returned to power for another five years in general elections in November.
Read full article on BusinessMirror