We need ASEAN to deal with uncertainty

**media[19821]**#MINDANAOAs of this writing, the conflict between Iran and Israel has escalated into missile strikes in major urban centers which threatens to broaden. This time, the reportage heads straight to our smartphones in a manner that can keep us glued to every development. While the details of this escalating conflict may escape the attention of many Filipinos, what will matter to many of us will be the other economic effects. These include the following:First, is risk of higher fuel prices for our local transport needs. If this persists beyond a few weeks, I will expect it to bear on prices of basic commodities, the transport of which is impacted by fuel costs. International logistics and freight costs may also be impacted, because of fuel prices and the need to make more expensive detours to avoid conflict zones.The second is that in our case, heightened conflict may affect the hundreds of thousands of deployed Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) Their combined income sent home accounts for about 8 percent of our 2023 GDP. More importantly, OFW income fuels many local economies, funding property purchases and paying for school tuitions and other local family expenses.Reflecting on these realities and the impacts of such conflicts, I am emboldened to assert that the role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as an economic community cannot be underscored. It must help build a resilient southeast Asian economy amid global uncertainty.A factor supporting this its brand of diplomacy that is premised on non-interference in the domestic affairs of member states. This is one of its key assets, since it removes the threat of political intervention in domestic affairs. This helps each state secure and grow its political institutions, many of which are young democracies with varying levels of economic development. This helps foster trust among member states, which can help facilitate better trade.Unlike the member states of the European Union, most of which evolved from either absolute to constitutional monarchies, or republican democracies, ASEAN's member states have diverse origins and backgrounds that include colonial legacies of the British, Dutch, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. Add to this the influence of the Chinese and Indian traders who sailed through its waters and settled in many of its lands before the entry of colonial powers. This makes ASEAN a true melting pot of the world, a diverse region where member states and its people have distinct ways of looking at the world, and the challenges now facing it. They see these through the lens of their own unique set of comparative and competitive advantages and disadvantages, which we can individually and collectively learn from.The other advantage of ASEAN is the much lower tariff regimes between member states, owing to the multilateral economic agreements forged in the last 15 years to build the ASEAN economic community. This lays the foundation for freer trade between our countries in a manner that is mutually empowering, as it can increase local manufacturing and trading of goods needed by southeast Asian residents.As an economic, I believe ASEAN can grow and manufacture many of the products needed by its people. As conflict in other parts of the world rises and the effects of these threaten economic security, we will need the ASEAN economic community to now come into fuller bloom.