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Saturday, December 17, 2005
P1 billion, holiday for 3 Cebu cities eyed for Asean meet
CEBU CITY -- The National Government is willing to spend P1 billion to host and secure 17 heads of state for the Asean summit next December, said Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
Osmeña said the amount is P3 billion less than the equivalent amount that Malaysia spent in the last Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) summit.
"Pinobre gyud among pamaagi para sa ilang standard, but I'm confident that we can do that (Our budget cannot compete with what they spend for)," he told reporters Friday.
The mayor also announced that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo already "verbally approved" to declare the cities of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, and Cebu on public holiday during the summit "with the obvious intention of telling the people to go out of town."
"We would not like you to be here. It might be worse than Martial Law," he told reporters Friday.
Osmeña said that although Manila as the capital city will "have the official title" as the host, "Cebu City will have the official activity."
"It's not about money anymore. This is about people's skills," he said alluding to the way Kuala Lumpur treated the international media, whom he said were "treated like bystanders."
"Here, I will give them importance," the mayor said.
Osmeña had admitted that the Cebu City Government is not ready to counter any terrorist attack, but with the help of some 700,000 residents and with police action, the safety of the delegates can be assured.
A ban on the sale of new vehicles, strict monitoring of transients and the re-registration of all vehicles that wish to operate within the city are just among the measures the mayor wants to implement before and during the meeting of Asean leaders. (GAC of Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex)
(December 17, 2005 issue)
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3 killed, 11 wounded in landmine explosion