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Friday, December 08, 2006
SOUTHEAST ASIAN SUMMITS MOVED TO JANUARY
CEBU -- (Updated 7:30 p.m.) Two Asian summits scheduled for next week have been postponed to January because a strong storm is bearing down on the meeting site, a top Philippine official said Friday.
Marciano Paynor Jr., head of the summit organizing committee, denied that the decision was driven by the threat of terrorism. The US, Britain and Australia had warned Thursday that terrorists might be in the final stages of planning an attack during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and East Asia summits in Cebu.
Sun.Star Network Online's 12th Asean Summit Watch
"Categorically I will state that the decision was based on this weather disturbance and this weather disturbance only," Paynor told a news conference, adding there was a 70 percent chance that the storm would hit Cebu province.
The storm is expected to hit the area when Asian leaders would be flying in over the weekend, Paynor said. The Asean summit was scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, followed by the second East Asia summit on Wednesday.
Military chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said the 10,000-strong security contingent was prepared for anything.
"The assessment is that we have deployed enough security forces and, minus the weather, we are confident we could hold it," Esperon said.
Paynor said tropical storm Seniang (international codename: Utor) had just been upgraded to a typhoon, but Prisco Nilo, acting chief of the Philippine weather bureau, later said it had not reached the criteria as of late Friday.
Paynor said officials considered delaying the summit for a few days, along with a number of other alternatives, before deciding on postponement to early January. No dates were immediately announced.
Nilo said he was contacted by the government for advice.
"Our recommendation is to go ahead with the summit," Nilo told The Associated Press. "Cebu city will still be affected, but the movement of the storm is to the north of Cebu, and it will be traveling fast. By Dec. 11 it will be over the South China Sea."
But officials said other considerations came into play, adding that the decision was made after consultations with participating countries.
"A slight deviation to the south could hit Cebu directly," said Ignacio Bunye, spokesman for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
"It's better to postpone the summit rather than hold it in an atmosphere where there is destruction all around. It goes against the grain of the theme of Asean, which is `One caring and sharing community."
The Philippines is still cleaning up from typhoon Reming (international codename: Durian), which crashed ashore a week ago and left more than 1,000 people dead or missing. It was the fourth "super typhoon" to hit the sprawling archipelago in four months.
Domingo Lucinario, a member of the Philippine government's organizing committee, said discussions among foreign ministers and other officials would continue as planned over the weekend because those people had already arrived.
Utor is expected to make landfall over Samar island Saturday afternoon and cross Masbate island, about 170 kilometers north of Cebu, on Sunday morning, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The Philippine weather bureau said that at 4 p.m. the storm had strengthened and was packing sustained winds of up to 95 kph and gusts of 120 kph on Friday afternoon.
The Philippines had rushed to get ready to host the meeting - building a new convention center from scratch that was still getting the final touches as preliminary meetings started - after Myanmar pulled out as host eight months ago amid criticism over its human rights record and failure to implement promised steps toward democracy.
"I feel a little sad, not for myself... but I know that a lot of Cebuanos have been preparing feverishly for the summit date," Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia said of the postponement. "However, it will give us more time to perfect what we are supposed to present. We look at the positive side, we move on and we move forward." (AP)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (December 8, 2006 issue)
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