Police Chief Supt. Noli Taliño (2nd from left), the head of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Central Visayas, meets with officers of the PNP and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) along with representatives from other government and private agencies to discuss security preparations for a new round of Asean leaders’ meetings in Cebu starting on June 29.
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA
new ASEAN MEETINGS
The Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) is now preparing for another round of meetings in Cebu by Southeast Asian leaders.
According to PRO-7 director Chief Supt. Noli Talino, around 300 senior officials of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will be in Cebu City for week-long meetings beginning June 29 to July 7.
This week, representatives from various government agencies met to discuss security preparations which may include the installation of signal jammers during the event.
“We are considering that plan like we did in the past big events,” said Taliño.
Talino explained that government is making sure that the security preparations will be “complete” and that all personnel and logistical requirements will be met.
This will be the second time Cebu will host the Asean meetings this year and the third time for Central Visayas.
Last April 3 to 7, a series of finance and defense meetings were held in Shangri-La Mactan Island Resort and Spa and Radisson Blu Hotel in Cebu.
Despite skirmishes between government troops and 11 members of the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Bohol last April, an Asean trade ministers’ meeting also went on as planned in Bohol from April 19 to 22.
During the Asean meetings held in Cebu and Bohol, around 5,000 security personnel from Central Visayas and its neighboring regions were deployed in the different venues.
However, this time, Taliño said the police and military personnel to be assigned will all be from the region.
“Manggagaling lahat sa PRO-7. Except that there will be some PNP na kasama na mismo ng delegates na close in security, but all other augmentation will all come from PRO-7 and AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) counterparts,” Taliño said.
(The security personnel will all be coming from PRO-7. Except that there will be some members of the police who are already working as close in security of the delegates. But all other augmentation will all come from PRO-7 and our AFP counter parts)
Last April, police secured mobile phone signal jammers in time for the Asean trade ministers’ meeting in Bohol.
However, Taliño was tight-lipped on whether or not they would use the jammers which prevent cellular phones from receiving signals from base stations.
“It will all depend on the situation as the meetings progress,” Taliño then said.