Jose David Lapuz - 2010 Appointments

2010 Appointments

Jose David Lapuz was a participant in the 2010 Preparatory Committee of the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference held in February 2010 at the New World Hotel in Makati, Manila. The Philippines was the country elected to be President of the N.P.T. Review Conference which took place in May 2010 in New York. The President-elect of the 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (N.P.T.) of New York is Philippine Ambassador Libran Cabactulan.

In March 2010, Lapuz was made a member of the Philippine delegation to the special Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) meeting on interfaith dialogue and cooperation for peace and development at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) which was attended by foreign ministers of 118 NAM Member-States. This SNAMMM Conference was the second biggest gathering in Manila of high-level government representatives, second only to the Ministerial Conference on Trade and Development in 1979. NAM represents the interests and priorities of developing countries in international affairs. It has its origin in the Asia-Africa Conference held in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955 (briefly known as the Bandung Conference).

Lapuz argued that through the steady promotion of interfaith dialogue, and respect for diverse cultures, traditions and practices in Mindanao, in Southern Philippines, the government of the Philippines was able "to build roads that opened up remote areas into the mainstream of economic activities and to construct irrigation systems in farm-lands that used to be impenetrable to construction companies because of conflict." Lapuz maintained that in Philippine Foreign Policy, the Philippines and Pakistan, with the full support of non-aligned movement member countries, have vigorously pursued in the U.N. the promotion of interfaith, interreligious and intercultural dialogue, understanding, and cooperation for peace since 2004. In a similar vein, The Society Of Catholic Social Scientists (SCSS), with headquarters in Steubenville, Ohio, USA, invited José David Lapuz to deliver a lecture-address on "The Eve of the Quadricentennial Anniversary of the Pontifical and Catholic University of Santo Tomas (1611-2011): The Millennial Challenge of Catholic Higher Education in the Philippines", which was held at Holy Cross College, South Bend, Indiana, East Central, USA in October 2010.

José David Lapuz was appointed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as member of the board of trustees of the National Museum of the Philippines in March 2010.

In May 2010, Jose David Lapuz joined some 300 representatives from international human rights organizations that converged in Geneva for the 44th Annual Session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The purpose of the conference was to strengthen and reinforce global cooperation in efforts to protect human rights and protect victims of violations of human rights and human dignity. Also, the conference discussed real concrete proposals on ways to reinforce cooperation between the human rights system and regional human rights mechanisms. The conference also tried to identify strategies to overcome obstacles to the promotion and protection of human rights not only at the national and regional levels but, also especially on international levels. Professor Lapuz participated as a Delegate and Representative of the Republic of the Philippines.