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Thursday, November 30, 2006
Convention center picked venue for summit opening
CEBU CITY -- The opening ceremony for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) leaders' summit on December 10 will be held at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).
Ambassador Marciano Paynor, head of the Philippine National Organizing Committee (NOC) for the Asean summit, made this announcement after the last joint meeting of the NOC and the Cebu Organizing Committee Wednesday.
About 90 to 98 meetings will be held in Cebu from Dec. 6 to Dec. 13 but they are still finalizing the venues, the ambassador said.
The meetings will be scattered in five major locations: the CICC in Mandaue City, Waterfront Hotel and Casino and Marco Polo Plaza Hotel in Cebu City, Shangri-la's Mactan Island Resort and Spa and the Mactan-Cebu International Airport in Lapu-Lapu City.
Marriot Cebu City Hotel, Plantation Bay Resort and Spa and Hilton Cebu Resort and Spa will also be used as venues for bilateral meetings.
Seventeen heads of state, with almost 2,000 members of the official delegation, will be coming to Cebu for the four-day Asean summit.
About 1,500 foreign journalists are arriving to cover the international gathering.
Paynor, who toured the CICC with Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, said the NOC-COC is now in the "fine-tuning" stage.
The most important person (MIP) lounge at the Mactan airport and the parking space for the aircraft are almost complete.
Paynor said they are just working on the streetlights, setting up additional lanterns and Christmas lights, and cleaning up the streets.
As for security concerns, Paynor said he does not know of any particular issue "that we need to worry about."
Domestic security concerns and the security for the foreign delegations have all been covered, he added.
A traffic dry run of the ceremonial route will held Friday.
Malacañang will help in the physical arrangements at the CICC on December 1.
Paynor made clear, though, that the National Government is not taking over the facility, which is funded by the Capitol with a P515-million allocation.
The blessing of the facility will be done on Dec. 8 with Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal.
Its air-conditioning system and the escalators are already running, while the rooms already have carpets. Some furniture from the Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation is already at the site.
Cebuano designer Kenneth Cobonpue, whose works have won international awards, will help the Capitol with the physical arrangements, alongside architect Joey Delfino, whom Malacañang tasked to take care of the CICC's interior works.
The CICC is a joint venture between the Capitol and the Mandaue City Government, which owns the 3.8-hectare area at the Mandaue Reclamation Area.
Garcia will meet with Cebu's mayors Thursday to determine who among them will join the exhibit that will be exclusive for the heads of states and the foreign media.
The Department of Trade and Industry will also have its own 20 booths to display products from other parts of the country. There will also be a space for the Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation, Duty Free Philippines and the Cebu City Government.
A similar activity was held during the Cebu Business Month at the Waterfront Hotel, but Garcia expects this to be bigger.
While the exhibit is exclusive to the visiting officials and media during the summit, it will be open to the public after the leaders' gathering. (ROV/JPM)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (November 30, 2006 issue)
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