RP 95 percent ready for ASEAN meeting

By Ronron
July 24, 2007

Philippine authorities said Tuesday it is 95 percent ready for the 40th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in Manila, saying they are only attending to minor concerns as the start of the main event on Sunday approaches.

“At this point, we are 95 percent prepared. But when Filipinos are told that tomorrow is the D-day, we always say, we can do that,” Ambassador Marciano Paynor, head of the National Organizing Committee of the AMM, said in a press briefing yesterday at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) said among the minor polishes they are conducting as far as security is concerned are on “logistical equipments, assignment of their men, and orienting their men to their tasks.”

A total of 6,533 security forces will be utilized during the duration of the Ministers’ meeting, which casually began last Saturday and will formally end on August 2nd. Paynor said the main event is set to begin this coming Sunday.

Deputy Director General Avelino Razon, Jr., commander of the PNP’s Task Force AMM, said most of these forces are policemen, while 600 are from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, 200 from the Metro Manila Development Authority, 45 from the Philippine Coast Guard, and a few others from the Bureau of Fire and the Department of Health.

Paynor disclosed that a total of 1,500 delegates from 27 participating countries, including the foreign ministers, will be arriving in the country for the meeting. About the same size will be from the foreign media, he said.

Paynor said the bulk of the delegates, including the high-ranking officials, are expected to start arriving this Saturday and Sunday.

“As the national task force commander, I am confident in saying that the PNP and all security contingencies participating in this meeting are very much prepared already,” Razon said the same press briefing.

“So far, we have not received any report with regard to threats or problems that will greatly affect the conduct of the meeting here,” he added.

Razon said the only concern of the organizers is the weather, which was the “official” reason for the postponement of the ASEAN Summit last December to January of this year.

He said they are closely coordinating with the government weather station to monitor the entry of tropical storms.

Asked about the possible impact of the punitive action of the military in Basilan against selected members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Razon said they are not expecting a spillover of violence to Manila.

He said AFP chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. assured him that the operations in Basilan will not affect the meetings in Manila.

“I am very confident that the PNP will be able to address our security concerns for this meeting,” Paynor, for his part, said.

He said he hopes that unlike in previous meetings where delegates only remember the unfortunate incidents, this meeting’s participants will also remember the positive events here, like the “hospitality of Filipinos.”

Told about reports about hotel overcharging during the ASEAN Summit in Cebu last January, Paynor said: “Overcharging is relative… The delegates understand this.”

He said hotels naturally increase their rates compared during normal days because they spend more for improvement of the hotel’s facilities and security.

“They pass on these expenses to their clients, which is normal,” Paynor said.

Paynor said among the agenda of the meeting are advancement of the declarations and conventions arrived at during the summit in January, including the draft charter for ASEAN. The issues covered range from counter-terrorism, unity, welfare of migrant workers and their families, HIV, flu, disasters and relief operations, and many others./DMS