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Tuesday, November 14, 2006
No advice yet on Asean venue transfer: Capitol
CEBU (Updated 4:30 p.m.) -- Cebu officials received no advice yet from the organizers of the Asean summit on the transfer of venue for all the summit meetings to a hotel in Mactan instead of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).
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Capitol inquired from the Office of Ambassador Marciano Paynor, the head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit national organizing committee. It received no official advise on the change of venue as of Tuesday.
Paynor is chairing a meeting that plots the routes of the delegates from CICC to the hotels and back when Capitol made a call.
Capitol learned that in his recent briefing to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Paynor said CICC will be finished on time and will be ready for use during the summit.
Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia and other Capitol officials are scheduled to conduct an inspection Wednesday, the reported completion date of CICC.
Deputy Director General Avelino Razon Jr., PNP deputy chief for administration, told foreign correspondents in a conference Tuesday that meetings of the Asean summit will be held in Shangri-La, a hotel in the island of Mactan in Cebu instead of the CICC in nearby Mandaue City.
"There were some problems with the construction of the international convention center. The foreign delegates expressed concern about it so it will be transferred to Shangri-la Mactan," Razon told the Foreign Correspondence Association of the Philippines at the Mandarin Hotel in Makati City.
The construction of the international convention center began last April and the constructors were hoping to finish it before the summit next month. The CICC have already cost Cebu province some P450 million for its construction.
Thousands of delegates are expected to attend the event, which will be covered by both local and foreign media.
Razon said all meetings of the Asean summit have been moved to Shangri-La, Mactan for the convention center might not be available on time. Supposedly only the heads of state meeting will be held in Shangri-La.
Razon said the decision to change the venue was relayed to him by Police Deputy Director General Isidro Lapeña, the overall chairman of the police Task Force Asean.
Razon said the Philippine National Police (PNP) has already prepared security measures to ensure that the summit will not be marred by any violence or any terror attack.
"Routes will be controlled, traffic will be rerouted so traffic will be better managed but the sea lanes will be still be open for commercial ships," said Razon.
Razon said there is no imminent threat to the holding of the summit adding "we have not perceived, received reports of any threat to the Asean Summit." The military has identified the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) as a potential threat to the summit.
"We are prepared for some groups that might conduct protest or mass rallies, we have contingencies for this," he said.
"The security preparation for the Asean Summit is all-systems go. We have deployed some 7,000 PNP personnel, over and above the 3,000 from Police
Regional Office-Central Visayas, to augment their security coverage," said Razon.
Razon also said the PNP deployment is on top of the 3,000 soldiers, which the Armed Forces of the Philippines is sending to secure the summit.
The military earlier announced the creation of Task Force Alalay, which will augment the PNP in overseeing peace and order during the summit. The military task force is composed of land, sea and air components, officials said.
"On November 23, in coordination with the PSG (Presidential Security Group), the PNP and the AFP will have a dry-run of the security preparations in Cebu. We have a green light," Razon also said. (VR/MVG/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cebu. (November 14, 2006 issue)
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