‘WE ARE READY’

GABATO

Banking on Cebu’s experience in hosting big international events in the past, organizers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit meetings to be held in Cebu and Bohol next month are confident the two provinces can pull off yet another feat.

Judy Gabato, officer in charge of the Department of Tourism in Central Visayas (DOT-7), said coordination with various stakeholders for the meetings has been “good.”

“Stakeholders, from security to local governments, have been very cooperative. We are all ready. It’s just a matter of fine-tuning and improving on some aspects. But when it comes to preparation, Cebu is very prepared, as well as Bohol,” she told Cebu Daily News.

DOT-7 is in charge of hospitality, which means they will organize welcome dinners for delegates, prepare cultural presentations, as well as mount guided tours for the visiting officials from different Asean states.

Finance and central bank meetings of the 31st Asean Summit hosted this year by the Philippines will be held in Cebu from April 3 to 7, while the Asean Defense Senior Officials’ Meetings (ADSOM) will likewise be held in Cebu from April 5 to 7.

Around 300 delegates are expected to attend the finance meetings in Lapu-Lapu City, hosted by the Department of Finance, while around 150 will be joining the ADSOM in Cebu City, hosted by the Department of National Defense.

Fair Trade Agreement negotiations between Hongkong and the Asean bloc will also be held in Panglao, Bohol, from April 18 to 22. More than 200 delegates are expected in Bohol for meetings to be held during that period.

Gabato said Cebu has been exposed to this kind of event many times before, including the Asean Summit in 2006 and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit meetings in 2015.

Among the tours the DOT-7 is looking at are an arts and culture tour in Mandaue City, where delegates will be shown how local guitars, among others, are made, as well as a possible historical tour in Cebu City.

According to the agency, optional tour to beaches, eco-tourism or heritage sites and other destinations in Cebu are also available.

With the meetings bringing in guests who are expected to splurge, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-7) Director Asteria Caberte said the first ones to benefit will be the micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises.

“We have a lot of products, food, restaurants, and tourism,” the director said in a separate interview.

Melanie Ng, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president

Melanie Ng, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, said the Asean meetings here will be a great opportunity to showcase Cebu as an ideal destination to the delegates, whether for work or leisure.

“Also the hosting of Asean events will give us the chance to highlight the investment opportunities present in Cebu and in the rest of the country,” she said.

For Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) president Glenn Soco, hosting a prestigious international event such as the Asean Summit will reaffirm Cebu’s positioning as a meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE) destination.

“It will likewise boost tourism and business as it will give Cebu good exposure in the international market,” he said.

Soco said he would have wished for better infrastructure facilities for Cebu in time for the Asean Summit, but this event will serve as a challenge to stakeholders to catch up in terms of upgrading infrastructure in anticipation of more international events in the future.

The now-defunct Cebu International Convention Center served as a venue for the Asean meetings in 2006, when the Philippines last hosted the summit.

Airport preparations

GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC), the private operator of the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA), said it was also coordinating with the Asean National Organizing Committee (NOC) for the meetings here.

“GMCAC is working closely with the Asean NOC and the local government agencies who are spearheading the various preparations to ensure that the delegates have a safe and comfortable experience in Cebu starting at the airport,” GMCAC said in a statement.

The Asean is an organization composed of 10 Southeast Asian states which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic integration among its members.

Founded by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand on Aug. 8, 1967, the bloc has since expanded its membership to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.

‘100 percent ready’

Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), meanwhile, affirmed that they have began deploying the first batch of policemen to secure various areas in Cebu ahead of the pre-summit meetings.

He said 450 policemen were yesterday deployed at the MCIA and other key areas in Lapu-Lapu City, representing about 15 percent of the 3,000 policemen who were assigned to secure the delegates and other participants.

The policemen will be augmented by about 2,000 soldiers and other security officers who were also tapped to ensure peace and order during the event.

TALIÑO

Taliño said policemen assigned to the Asean Summit meeting venues will be all deployed by Sunday, April 1.

“We are 100 percent ready for the Asean Summit in Cebu,” he said in an interview yesterday.

Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, former PRO-7 deputy director for operations and the incoming chief of the Crime Research Analysis Center in Camp Crame, was designated as the over-all ground commander for the Asean Summit security arrangements in Cebu.

The formal send-off ceremony of the police officers who will be assigned to secure delegates to the Asean Summit meetings in Cebu will be made at 8 a.m. on Sunday, April 2, at the Cebu City Sports Center.

Taliño said they have not entertained the possibility of implementing a signal shutdown during the summit conferences because unlike the Sinulog Festival grand parade and procession last January, when telecommunication companies were asked to shut down cell sites in Cebu City and neighboring areas, police officials here believed it is easier to secure the participants who will stay in indoor venues.

So far, Taliño said they have not monitored any specific or direct threats to Cebu although he advised everyone to be vigilant at all times.