He will have a lean delegation, with only four Cabinet secretaries – Rene Almendras of energy, Cesar Purisima of finance, Ricky Carandang of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office and Presidential Management Staff chief Julia Abad – confirmed to be joining him on his trip as of yesterday.

The support staff from Malacañang and attached offices number 21 as of last count. They will be joined by personnel from the Department of Foreign Affairs and other agencies.

During the President’s trip to Vietnam where he conducted a state visit and attended the 17th Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit and related meetings, only 52 people were with him.

On Monday, the President said he was ready to join world leaders in tackling global terror threats and concerns on currencies during the APEC Summit and related meetings.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma said the Chief Executive has been studying the four general topics that would be discussed during the summit to be held in Yokohama, Japan.

The general agenda of the APEC leaders’ meeting include the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP); balanced, inclusive, sustainable, knowledge-based growth; human security; and economic and technical cooperation.

Coloma said the FTAAP was agreed upon during the 2008 APEC meeting in Bogor, Indonesia. He said the second topic was aimed at ensuring equity among the rich and the poor within the society and developed and developing countries.

The second topic also includes protecting the environment to preserve its natural resources and the use of modern technology in developing ways and means that will expedite progress.

Human security will focus on sub-topics such as counterterrorism measures, emergency and disaster preparedness, promoting food security, and countering infectious diseases.

According to Coloma, economic and technical cooperation will also be discussed to further strengthen the capacity of APEC member-countries in achieving such goals.

Coloma said the President would also attend plenary sessions and bilateral meetings at the sidelines of the event.

Earlier, the President said he was seeking a meeting with the leaders of China, the United States and Russia who would be attending the APEC summit.

US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao are expected to attend the event.

The President said he would also have a meeting with the leaders of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and others.

He also said he would like to raise the matter of issuing travel advisories against a country like the Philippines even before a terror threat could be validated.

“I’m preparing for APEC and you know, the volatility of the international financial markets, especially in stability of exchange rates affecting the entire global community, is on top of the agenda,” Mr. Aquino said.

The President said the issue on currencies was already being discussed at the Group of Twenty (G-20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in South Korea, which would be followed up and further expounded upon at the APEC summit.

The G-20 was established in 1999, in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, to bring together major advanced and emerging economies to stabilize the global financial market.

Since its inception, the G-20 has held annual Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ meetings and discussed measures to promote the financial stability of the world and to achieve sustainable economic growth and development.

Mr. Aquino said before leaving on Thursday, he would be going to Cebu today for the launching of a ship and the inauguration of a hotel that would help the country’s tourism campaign.

The President said he also met yesterday with Naoyuki Shinohara, deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and discussed currency concerns as well.

“It has to deal with the biggest economy in the world which is America. There will be an exchange of ideas. We will be proposing, hopefully, there will be a framework where we address this particular issue. Now, the actual details we’re still threshing it out, the measures that we would want to propose and this may be just a stage to get a consensus rather than to make a pronouncement,” Mr. Aquino said.

Asked whether the government was comfortable with the current peso value, Aquino said, “I think we’re roughly in the band that is tolerable within the system.”

“The issue has more to deal with volatility - the rapid swings in either direction. That is what you would want to hopefully mitigate but, of course, this is a global phenomenon and this is not because of something inherently wrong in the Philippines,” he said.

“But it is a worldwide problem and that really dampens business enthusiasts, right? When you cannot factor in all of these factors which are variable by nature. The volatility, I have to emphasize, is the major issue - the rapid fluctuation and that is not yet happening in our country. Hopefully it will not happen,” he added.

The President said his discussions with Shinohara centered on the volatility of the foreign exchange markets and “the need to have a framework whereby this volatility is tempered.”

He said the proposal for the framework to address the matter might not be ready after the G-20 summit but “hopefully, best case scenario, we will propose that framework to be adopted by everybody.”

Mr. Aquino said the Philippines was amenable to the framework as a general idea but would have to check further because “the devil is in the details.”

Aurea Calica, Philippine Star