FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro will lead a two-day humanitarian mission in Myanmar this week but is not certain whether she will meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday said Lazaro, in her capacity as Special Envoy of the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) chairman, will lead the mission from Oct. 28 to 29.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., as chairman of Asean in 2026, has designated Lazaro as Asean Special Envoy to Myanmar. She was tasked to facilitate a peaceful solution to the political crisis in that country.
She will lead an Asean Monitoring Team (AMT) Mission, “to support the delivery of humanitarian assistance to affected and displaced communities in Myanmar,” the DFA said in a statement.
The mission will be coordinated with the Asean Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Center) on disaster management.
The AMT Mission, participated in by representatives of Asean Missions and Japan based in Yangon, will take place in designated sites in Taunggyi, Southern Shan State, on Oct. 28.
This will “kickstart the month-long distribution of humanitarian support to communities in Kayin State, Southern Shan State, and Northern Shan State, focusing on areas not previously reached by the AHA Centre,” the DFA said.
Lazaro will also lead the symbolic handover of a religious building, as well as the distribution of school kits to prefabricated school buildings that were built through contributions from the Philippines following the 2025 earthquake, which severely affected central Myanmar.
Working with its implementing partner, the Myanmar Red Cross Society, the AHA Centre will continue the delivery of food and essential non-food items to affected communities through November 2026.
“Overall, the operation is expected to reach more than 11,000 households through the distribution of 50-kilogram bags of rice, family kits, and personal hygiene kits. It will also mark the AHA Centre’s first delivery of humanitarian assistance in Northern Shan State,” the DFA said.
Lazaro remains committed to engaging with all parties concerned to implement the Asean five-point consensus, particularly the “cessation of hostilities, facilitation of constructive dialogue, the mediation of the dialogue process, and expansion of humanitarian assistance in Myanmar,” the DFA said earlier.
The military junta in Myanmar initially placed Suu Kyi, also a human rights activist, under house arrest in July 1989. She was released years later but was arrested again in 2021 during a coup.
After subsequent intermittent releases, Suu Kyi was arrested again during a coup on Feb. 1, 2021. After spending years in prison, she was allowed house arrest on May 1.
