ASEAN Beat | Diplomacy | Southeast Asia

Philippine Foreign Secretary Says She Will Meet Myanmar Opposition Groups Soon

The announcement comes as ASEAN member states move to normalize their relations with the new “civilian” government in Naypyidaw.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro delivers a speech at the Nikkei Forum on the Future of Asia in Tokyo, Japan, Jun. 10, 2026.

The Philippines’ foreign secretary said yesterday that she intends to meet ethnic armed groups from Myanmar in her capacity as the ASEAN special envoy on Myanmar, marking a possible shift in the bloc’s approach to the country.

Speaking at a forum in Tokyo organized by the Japanese media group Nikkei, Ma. Theresa Lazaro said she would meet with several unnamed groups in the coming days, Reuters reported.

“I intend to meet with certain ethnic armed groups and to find out the situation and how we can really try to help,” Lazaro said, without mentioning which of Myanmar’s 20-odd ethnic armed groups she would meet, nor where the meeting would be held. “We’ll see how it works,” she added.

The outreach could mark an important turning point in the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus, ASEAN’s framework for resolving the nationwide conflict that erupted following the military coup in February 2021. Agreed at a special ASEAN meeting shortly after the coup, the Consensus intended to bring about an end to violence and to convene an inclusive dialogue involving “all parties” to the country’s many-sided conflict.

But ASEAN has made little progress in implementing the most important elements of the Consensus since 2021. Myanmar’s military junta has persisted in its attempts to crush resistance groups by force and has strongly criticized any hint that ASEAN would engage with these opposition groups directly. (Many resistance groups have likewise refused to engage in talks with the military, pushing for its permanent removal from Myanmar’s political life.)

As a result of its lack of action to implement the Five-Point Consensus, the military administration’s top leaders have been barred from attending high-level ASEAN meetings.

However, the situation is slowly beginning to shift. In April, coup leader Min Aung Hlaing was sworn in as president, completing a political transition that involved the holding of a multiphase election in December and January. In his inauguration speech, Min Aung Hlaing announced that his new “civilian” administration intends to “‌enhance ‌international relations and strive to restore normal relations” with ASEAN. He also announced the release of political prisoners and the relocation of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi from prison to house arrest, and invited key ethnic armed groups to take part in fresh peace talks.

While this “transition” has been widely dismissed as a sham by resistance groups and rights organizations both within Myanmar and abroad, and ASEAN has not officially recognized the election result, the bloc and its members have been seeking ways to re-engage with Myanmar since the new government took over in April.

ASEAN member states have led the push toward normalization. The foreign ministers of Thailand and Malaysia have both visited Naypyidaw since Min Aung Hlaing’s inauguration. Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono paid a working visit to Myanmar earlier this week, and is due to be followed by Lao Foreign Minister Thongsavanh Phomvihane on June 12-13. Meanwhile, Lazaro has previously stated that the Philippines did not endorse the........

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