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Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Reports spiked: Convention center stays as Asean site
CEBU CITY -- On the eve of its construction deadline, foreign news wire reports said that organizers have decided not to use the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) for next month's Southeast Asian leaders' summit.
The reports quoted PNP Deputy Director-General Avelino Razon as saying some of the foreign delegations "expressed concern that the convention center will not be finished."
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But when sought for clarification, Razon told Sun.Star by phone that he was misquoted in the wire reports.
What he actually meant, the police general said, was that some meetings will be held at the Shangri-la Mactan Island Resort, while some will be held at the CICC.
In a separate interview, Capitol consultant Pablo John Garcia said that Ambassador Marciano Paynor, head of the National Organizing Committee, did not mention anything about the supposed decision as of Tuesday.
The Provincial Government is paying for the P450-million CICC, which was designed to host some ceremonies and meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as its maiden event. Organizers have previously explained, however, that the leaders' summit will be at the Shangri-la in Mactan.
After hearing about the news from the wire agencies, Capitol officials immediately tried to get in touch with Paynor.
The ambassador, however, could not take the call because he was presiding over a meeting to plot the route of the delegates from their hotels to the CICC.
Garcia commented that if the switch were true, it would be impossible for the Cebu Organizing Committee not to be informed about the decision.
Paynor, when he joined Garcia last Monday to inspect the CICC, told reporters that the center will be used for some Asean activities.
Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia only had this to say: "I am busy finishing the CICC and have no time to humor off-the-cuff statements from people who are not even part of the organizing committee."
Wednesday is Capitol's self-imposed deadline for the completion of the CICC, except for some finishing touches. The governor will host a media tour to show that the facility has been substantially completed.
A test run of CICC's elevators, escalators and chillers for the air-conditioning units were supposed to be done last Sunday, but the supplier of the switch gear failed to deliver on time.
Capitol conducted the test run using its generator set Tuesday.
"As I have been saying, and I hope this will be fully appreciated, Nov. 15 was a self-imposed deadline. It was not the heads of states nor Ambassador Paynor who imposed it. That was really in order for us to reach beyond the limits of our human endurance. Ug sa Binisaya pa, makapa-mundo na ta daan ba (We wanted to have some lead time)," Governor Garcia explained.
She added: "We have at least three weeks before the summit and we realized you cannot really perfect the entire facility in just two days. But finishing na lang ta. I expect a very substantial completion."
Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano, interviewed separately, said that based on Ambassador Paynor's latest update, the agreements reached during the summit will be signed at the CICC.
According to reports circulated by the wire agencies Associated Press and Agence France Presse (AFP), the summit on Dec. 10 to 13 will be held in the Shangri-la, instead of the CICC in Mandaue City.
"While the hosts have assured the heads of government of Asean member-countries, as well as their main trading partners, that the convention center would be built before the summit starts, some of the foreign delegations expressed concern that the convention center will not be finished," the AFP report stated.
"So the venue was transferred to Shangri-La Mactan to satisfy the requirements of some of the foreign delegations," Razon reportedly told the foreign correspondents' association.
In the same wire reports, Razon said the PNP has prepared security measures to ensure that the summit will not be marred by any violence or any terrorist attack.
"Routes will be controlled, traffic will be rerouted so it will be better managed, but the sea lanes will still be open for commercial ships," said Razon.
Razon said the authorities had not monitored any threats, but have deployed an additional 7,000 police and 3,100 soldiers along with the thousands of security forces already in Cebu.
The summit will involve leaders of the 10-country Asean: Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam.
Leaders from China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand also will join Asean heads of state for an East Asia Summit on Dec. 13.
"We are prepared for some groups that might conduct protests or mass rallies, we have contingency plans for this," Razon said.
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.
"On Nov. 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. (MBG/AAG of Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex/With AP & AFP)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (November 15, 2006 issue)
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