IN the spirit of Asean unity and brotherhood, visiting Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Thursday committed to supply whatever rice requirements the Philippines would need in the future.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said in a briefing that Samak made the “gracious” pledge during his bilateral meeting with President Arroyo in Malacañang, which was attended by select Philippine and Thai officials, including Yap, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.

“The Prime Minister of Thailand said that he comes to the Philippines extending the hand of friendship, saying that in the spirit of Asean unity and brotherhood, should the Philippines need rice, Thailand would be willing to supply. At what volume, to be discussed; at what price, to be negotiated,” Yap said.

He said Mrs. Arroyo thanked Samak, and that Philippine officials are “very open” to the offer, which would be considered in view of the fact that the Philippines has already secured its required rice volumes and the country’s strong dry harvest.

“There are also flexibilities right now. We are going to evaluate all of these factors if and when we choose to procure from Thailand and our other suppliers,” he said.

Mrs. Arroyo and Samak also discussed cooperation on food security, improving the supply and distribution of rice, improving rice productivity through research and development, using the latest technique in crop establishment as well as rice breeding, tourism cooperation, trade and investment cooperation, Asean issues, and Thailand’s chairmanship of Asean.

Samak’s visit is part of his traditional visit to all Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) capitals.

With his two-day Manila trip, the Thai leader will have completed his visits to all Asean capitals, except Brunei.

Samak was elected the 25th prime minister of Thailand last January, following the victory of his party, the Prachachon or People Power Party (PPP) in the December 23, 2007 general elections.

In his three decades in politics, the 73-year-old Samak had been deputy prime minister three times, minister of transportation twice, interior minister, and deputy agriculture minister.

He is also a celebrity chef in Thailand, having hosted a popular cooking show called Tasting, Grumbling.

Samak was originally scheduled to visit Manila in April but had to postpone it after coming down with the flu.

Samak, who has a habit of visiting local wet markets because of his love for cooking, will go to the Guadalupe market in Makati City at 6 a.m. on Friday to scout for fresh ingredients.

Thailand commits to fill in RP rice needs

IN the spirit of Asean unity and brotherhood, visiting Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Thursday committed to supply whatever rice requirements the Philippines would need in the future.

TEN still unidentified armed men who reportedly claimed to be New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas broke into the terminal of Victory Liner on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa), Quezon City, on Wednesday night and set on fire one of its buses, the police said.

THE Department of Justice (DOJ) has found probable cause to indict three building engineers and five employees for reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and gross negligence in connection with the October 19, 2007, blast that destroyed Glorietta 2 in Makati City, that left 11 persons dead and more than 100 others injured.

EDITA BURGOS, the mother of missing political activist Jonas Burgos, on Thursday asked the Court of Appeals (CA) to cite former Armed Forces chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and several other military and police officials in contempt for having filed a false return to the writ of amparo issued by the Supreme Court (SC).

FOUR men were killed in a series of police operations in Batangas on Wednesday and early Thursday morning as the police stepped up their hunt for the suspects involved in the bloody bank robbery in Laguna last week.

QUEZON City mayor Feliciano Belmonte started the ball rolling for the redevelopment of the Quezon Circle to revive it as the central park of the metropolis and give it due importance as the shrine of President Manuel Quezon. The late president and his wife, Aurora, are buried in the monument in the center of the park.

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Gunmen staged an ambush killing a Marine and wounding another in Sulu.

A police report disclosed that the incident took place Tuesday in sitio Dan Puti, barangay Liang, Patikul.