Cebu gets ready for APEC

APEC preps face test: hotel venues,  traffic, tours, security  

A waiter sets up a function room of Radisson Blu for final inspection as one of the meeting rooms for APEC delegates. (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)

Preparations for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in Cebu  switched to high gear yesterday with the arrival of initial batches of delegates.

Cebuano commuters and motorists  felt it immediately with a surprise rerouting of jeepneys away from hotel venues in Cebu City.

Policemen and green-uniformed traffic enforcers  were more visible on the streets.

The rerouting, which was not widely announced beforehand, caused bumper-to-bumper traffic in sideroads of the APEC ceremonial route.  Scores of commuters, who were caught unaware, were stranded. (story on page 2)

At the Mactan Cebu International Airport, a  welcome reception committee is working around-the-clock in three shifts to provide, as promised, a warm Cebuano welcome for each arriving delegate.

Up to 3,500 delegates and their spouses are expected to arrive in Cebu.

Delegates will stay for two to three days. But as soon as they fly out, other delegates will be coming in and out for the next three weeks.

Traffic management is focused on the APEC ceremonial route from Salinas Drive to Pope John Paul II Street (formerly San Jose dela Montaña) to S.  Osmeña Road in the North Reclamation Area where Radisson Blu is the venue of most of the meetings.

Traffic escorts with sirens will be signaling vehicles to move aside and make way for passing convoys of APEC delegates, who ride special vans with APEC license plates.

To ensure the route has light traffic, all public utility jeepneys (PUJs) were rerouted away from the ceremonial route starting yesterday.

About 100 technical working group meetings and workshops will be held in the next 16 days, starting tomorrow, in four Cebu City hotels.

Most of the meetings are set  in the Radisson Blu, where meetings will culminate with the Third Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM3) on Sept. 5 to 6.

Other venues are Marco Polo Plaza Cebu, Cebu City Marriott Hotel, and Waterfront Cebu City Hotel.

CLOSED DOORS

All meetings will be held behind closed doors.

Access to the meeting rooms are restricted, with security officers manning the doors, said Ambassador Ma. Angelina Sta. Catalina, deputy director general of the APEC-National Organizing Committee (NOC).

“Soon, we will implement a ‘no ID, no entry’ policy. Even those with  the green ID (which were issued to some organizing committee members) would not be allowed to go inside (the meeting rooms),” Sta. Catalina said in a meeting with members of the APEC Cebu Organizing Committee headed by overall coordinator Lito Maderazo yesterday afternoon.

Ambassador Ma. Angelina Sta. Catalina meets with local APEC organizers in Cebu to check preparations for the first of a series of APEC meetings taht starts on Saturday. Expect 3,300 delegates and their spouses coming in and out of Cebu over the next three weeks. (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)

“This is where the drafts (of declarations that will be signed by the ministers and APEC leaders) will be made. Discussions will be sensitive. There will be disagreements,” said Sta. Catalina.

Journalists covering the meetings require prior accreditation but are not allowed in the meeting rooms.

They have to wait in the international media center in Bayfront Hotel, unless they are asked to attend a press conference at any of the meeting venues, where they have to be escorted by conference staff.

Cebu will also host four ministerial meetings, aside from several working group meetings.

So far only the dates for the Structural Reform Ministers’ Meeting (Sept. 7-8) and Finance Ministers’ Meeting (Sept. 10-11) have been announced. Ministerial meetings on energy and transportation will be held in October.

CONCERNS

Ambassador Sta. Catalina asked Cebu organizers to address concerns on traffic, flooding, and tours.

She asked for a directory of emergency numbers, especially of hospitals nearest each meeting venue.

“One of the major concerns is traffic. But today, as I moved from the airport to Radisson Blu, it’s just quick,” she said during the meeting.

A truck ban was declared by Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama in a memo this week to take effect 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. from Aug. 22 to Sept. 5.

The three-week ban covers Juan Luna Avenue to Salinas Drive, Salinas Drive to Veterans Drive (Marco Polo Plaza), Juan Luna corner Archbishop Reyes Avenue (Tesda) to Gorordo Avenue.

Lt. Col. Generoso Ponio, special assistant to the director-general for operations of the APEC-NOC, noted however that trucks still hamper the flow of traffic.

He suggested that trucks be restricted to only one lane of the APEC route.

“In Mandaue, trucks are seen swerving from one lane to another. I hope trucks will pass through a special lane just like in Manila,” he said.

He asked that roads near hotel venues be cleared of parked vehicles for the duration of the APEC meetings.

Flooding is another concern if a heavy rain persists.

The North Reclamation Area, particularly the Radisson Blu and Bayfront, turns into a lagoon after an hour of heavy rain.