What's up, folks! Well it's Thirstday again!

First of all, Selamat Pagi! As you read this, the ASEAN Ports Association, or APA, will be culminating its five-day regional conference here in Bali, Indonesia. Yes, folks! We are in Bali!

Your country representatives for the APA regional conference are Angelina Llose, head of the Commercial Services Department; Neil Tuazon, segment host of PPAsyal Tayo and Galore sa Pantalan segment of PPA TV, and yours truly as head of the delegation.

We were warmly welcome by the Indonesian people, and had a taste of their mouth-watering food and wonderful hospitality.

Bali is a beautiful place comparable to our Boracay. These two Southeast Asian tourist destinations are among the best in the world! We are still to explore Bali's beauty as we hit the road running since we arrived two days ago and all we did was work, work, work with the daily conferences.

We hope to have a lull time before we depart and finally enjoy the beach.

Well, going back to the conference: the ASEAN Ports Association is a regional alliance of ports in Southeast Asia consisting of nine member countries, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Myanmar and the Philippines.

The APA aims to provide Southeast Asian ports with a means for regional cooperation in port development, operations and management; and to promote and protect the interests of each member.

The development of the ASEAN Maritime Single Window to support connectivity and reduce logistics costs in the Southeast Asian region has been discussed. One way of achieving this is to build a single maritime ecosystem. The ecosystem will prioritize digitalization that will provide efficiency and protect the environment by reducing carbon emissions, according to APA Chairman Bui Van Quy of Vietnam.

The ASEAN Maritime Single Window is an ecosystem that will prioritize digitalization, provide efficiency and protect the environment by reducing carbon emissions.

Although the ASEAN member countries continue to recover from the pandemic faster than the global trend, this recovery is not uniform across the region. Thus, the need to put importance on digital innovation, decarbonization, and infrastructure to accelerate growth.

The conference keynote speaker, H.E. Dr. Capt. Antoni Arif Priadi M.Sc, Director General of Sea Transportation of Indonesia, commended all participants from the ASEAN member countries as he provided an overview of the organizational structure of the Ministry of Transportation of Indonesia.

Indonesia's geographical configuration, as well as the challenges it faces in port development, management, and connectivity were discussed in relation to problems being experienced by other ASEAN countries. He underscored the Indonesian Archipelagic Sea Lane and the strategic position of Indonesia, which is located between the continents of Asia and Australia.

Being the head of the Philippine delegation, yours truly presented the country's position paper on "Port Terminal Management Regulatory Framework." The paper outlines the Philipine Ports Authority innovation to ensure efficient port management and port users' satisfaction actively pushed by PPA General Manager Jay Santiago.

This includes the maritime single window set for implementation by 24  by the International Maritime Organization. The Philippines will have to get into gear for that.  Meanwhile, ASEAN countries that are already implementing it are Singapore and Indonesia.

The basic agenda of the ASEAN Maritime Single Window is to support connectivity and reduce logistics costs in the Southeast Asian region. The Philippines can learn a thing or two from the experiences  and innovations employed by our neighbors in dealing with challenges involving seaports, the shipping industry and the maritime industry in general.

While we view the advancements in the application of technology and innovative management by our neighbors, we continue to second guess our own programs due to opposing views and interests by key players in the shipping and maritime industry in our country.

There are innovations that have already been applied in other parts of ASEAN which are supposed to have been instituted in the Philippines long before they were even conceptualized by our neighbors.

Opposing views are helpful in coming up with a more reliable and better system. However, too much of it will spell disaster, especially in an industry deemed as an anchor of the economy and especially if we are together in the voyage towards the same goal.

Without unity, we cannot expect to arrive at our destination in one piece. We just need to learn from our neighbors how they did i, that is, how they journeyed and triumphed together in the same boat.