ASEAN Spokesman is Ivatan

The official Spokesman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is Ivatan. Jun Abad was born in Basco, Batanes on November 29, 1962. He is the son of Medardo Castillejos Abad and Juanita Espedido Castano. Jun used to work in Malacanang Palace before joining ASEAN.

Jun was partly responsible for bringing President Cory Aquino to Basco in 1989 and for facilitating the electrification of Batanes. Jun has masters degrees from the University of the Philippines and the University of Sydney.

ASEAN consists of ten countries - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Based in Jakarta, ASEAN has a combined population of approximately 500 million, GDP of $700 billion, and international trade of $ 1 trillion.

To read the Newsbreak interview of Jun, click here.