PH urges Myanmar to give DFA chief ‘access’ to Suu Kyi
The Philippine government on Wednesday urged Myanmar to allow diplomatic access to detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi following reports that she had been moved to house arrest and her prison sentence reduced under a broadened amnesty program.
The country made the request as this year’s chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and host of the regional bloc’s meetings.
The military junta ruling Myanmar since 2021 was asked to grant Foreign Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro “brief access” to the 80-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
The Marcos administration designated Lazaro in November 2025 as its “special envoy” on the Myanmar situation.
For ‘greater transparency’
The DFA said the developments on Suu Kyi’s detention, as well as the release or pardoning of more than 1,500 political prisoners in Myanmar, could serve as confidence-building measures toward national stability in Myanmar.
“We encourage Myanmar to provide greater transparency regarding this transfer by allowing Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to communicate with her family, which would demonstrate a genuine commitment to national reconciliation,” the DFA said in a statement.
Allowing Lazaro to personally see Suu Kyi would allow the Philippine official to fulfill her role of engaging “all stakeholders and parties to create an environment conducive to inclusive national dialogue.”
“These developments offer good momentum for Myanmar to show further concrete efforts toward the full and effective implementation of the Five-Point Consensus (5PC),” the DFA said.
The 5PC is a peace plan adopted by Asean leaders in 2021, which calls for the immediate cessation of violence, constructive dialogue, and a conducive environment for the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Myanmar.
Incommunicado
Detained since the 2021 coup that placed her country back under military rule, Suu Kyi had been held incommunicado for long periods since her arrest.
Myanmar’s junta chief-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing on Thursday ordered Suu Kyi to be moved, five years after putting her into detention.
Min Aung Hlaing toppled Suu Kyi’s elected government in 2021, detaining her on a host of charges which rights groups say were confected to sideline her.
The ensuing civil war has killed thousands and displaced millions in the southeast Asian country of roughly 50 million. —WITH REPORTS FROM PNA AND AFP
