Philippines asks Myanmar to free other political prisoners
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While it welcomed the release of Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the Philippines said on Monday it is time for the country's ruling junta to show genuine commitment to democracy and political reforms by freeing 2, 200 other political prisoners.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo called Suu Kyi's release a "momentous development", but said in a statement released on Monday that this merely "the first step and ought to be followed by other measures toward the return of real democracy, full respect for human rights and genuine national reconciliation for all parties and sectors of the Myanmar nation."
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Laureate, has spent more than 15 of the last 21 years in detention. She was released on Nov. 13.
Romulo said the Philippines continues to be hopeful that the Myanmar government will "without further delay" take the next steps toward the "true fulfillment" of its own Roadmap to Democracy through the restoration of the full political, economic and civil rights and freedoms of all individuals and persons in Myanmar.
