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Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Asean summit shelved ‘effectively’?
CEBU CITY -- Although Asean summit organizers are still waiting for the confirmation of the new summit schedule, Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia Victoriano Lecaros is almost certain of the approval of the suggested dates.
Lecaros said Tuesday the tentative schedule for the Southeast Asia and East Asia leaders’ summits is from January 8 to 13.
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The national organizing committee announced last Sunday that the proposed dates were from Jan. 11 to 14 next year.
However, Japan’s economy minister doubted the reason of an impending typhoon for the postponement of two Asian summits, saying the Philippines lost credibility with the move.
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari also believes the summits were effectively cancelled as the rescheduled January dates will not suit all the leaders.
“Officials concerned actually see the summits as de facto called off, considering the tight schedules of national leaders in the next six months,” Amari said in his blog.
Amari and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, in a separate report, also said that the threat of a terrorist attack was one reason for the postponement of the Dec. 10-14 annual summit of leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and their meetings with the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña praised President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for giving Ambassador to the Asean Marciano Paynor Jr. a free hand in deciding to postpone the summits, but he maintained his position that putting off the event was a “bad call.”
“It was a bad decision and we were not even consulted. Mr. Know-It-All just decided,” he said.
Governor Gwendolyn Garcia earlier said that she was consulted about the postponement as co-chairperson of the Cebu organizing committee and that she spoke for the other local governments hosting the summit—the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Cordova town.
Paynor, head of the national organizing committee, also said last Friday when he announced the postponement that they discussed with other leaders and officials regarding the decision.
In his news conference Tuesday, Mayor Osmeña said that while he was convinced that the typhoon was valid enough as a reason, it was not necessary to postpone the summits and spice up the justification with “political considerations.”
“The decision should be based on the safety of the delegates. But he put political considerations, asking how the President would look hosting a gathering with devastation going on, which is not correct,” the mayor said.
Paynor, Osmeña said, should have waited for the typhoon to hit Cebu, which happened Saturday night, before making a thorough assessment and coming up with his “difficult decision.”
Despite the typhoon, no flights were canceled at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport and the weather was already okay in Metro Cebu last Sunday, when the heads of state were scheduled to start arriving.
“They hit the panic button right away. That’s a bad call,” Osmeña said.
During a media forum Tuesday, Lecaros, spokesman for the 12th Asean summit, said only Japan has so far expressed a conflict in the January schedule.
Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe already has a scheduled trip to Europe and Africa on the said dates, but Lecaros said Japan could still join the summit by sending a representative.
The proposed dates are still subject to the confirmation of the leaders of Asean member-countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The governments of Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia already said their leaders will be joining President Arroyo on the new summit date.
As of Tuesday, it was still not clear whether any leaders from Australia, China, Japan, India, South Korea and New Zealand will be able to attend.
The six countries make up the East Asia summit, which was to have been held alongside the Asean summit in Cebu.
As for the availability of rooms, Department of Tourism 7 Regional Director Dawnie Roa said the hotels and resorts have committed to provide the same number of rooms for the summit in January.
The hotels and resorts are just waiting for the final schedule, she said.
Via Mare, the catering service hired for the international media center at the Cebu International Convention Center, sent 135 personnel to attend to the functions in Cebu.
Roa said most of them already left for Manila last Monday while 11 are still in Cebu.
During the 888 News Forum Tuesday, Roa also said she is not worried about the three container vans of blast-frozen food items that Via Mare brought to Cebu.
The food items, she said, are still good for consumption within eight months.
In the same forum, Lecaros admitted that summit events will overlap with some of the Sinulog activities in January.
He said, though, that government leaders should have already left Cebu during the Sinulog grand parade on January 21.
Lecaros is also not sure whether President Arroyo will issue an order declaring a holiday for all government offices and schools in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu for the duration of the summit.
December 11 to 14, the original dates of the summit, were declared as non-working holidays for the public sector in the three cities.
Lecaros said one of the advantages of holding the summit in January is that some delegates might bring along their relatives for a vacation and even extend their stay in Cebu for four days or more.
He said the perceived “loss” suffered by the resorts, hotels and other stakeholders in Cebu due to the postponement will be recovered. (Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (December 13, 2006 issue)
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