ORGANIZERS postponed two high-profile regional summits from next week to early January, blaming a brewing storm and not warnings of a planned terrorist attack.
Both the Southeast Asian Leaders’ and the East Asia Summits will be held in Cebu shortly before the island’s peak tourist season, when the Sinulog festival is held and major hotels are packed.
Marciano Paynor Jr., the Philippine ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), announced the postponement at 5 p.m. yesterday.
“This is a most agonizing decision that we had to make, but we have responsibilities and as painful as it is, we have to do it,” Paynor told reporters in a press briefing at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).
Five hours earlier, Asean National Organizing Committee Chairman and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo accepted the symbolic key from Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia to signal that Cebu’s doors are open to receive the delegates.
Weather
Speculations were raised on whether the travel advisories on terror threats in Cebu and the current political troubles in Manila against Arroyo’s administration provoked the postponement, but Ambassador Paynor stressed only the weather was to blame.
Government officials have yet to decide whether the four-day holiday for the schools and government offices will still push through on Dec. 11 to 14. As of last night, it was also not clear if President Arroyo will still fly to Cebu tomorrow to address the ongoing Asean Business and Investment Summit.
However, the ministerial meetings will push through as scheduled, as the ministers are already here and started with their preparatory meetings yesterday.
Paynor confirmed that the weather bureau indeed recommended for the summit to push through. But he pointed out no one can tell whether the typhoon would intensify into a super typhoon, and heads of states would be “uncomfortable” having a summit while devastation haunted Cebu or other parts of the country.
The decision to postpone the summit will allow the Philippine Government to “give its undivided attention” to whatever effects Seniang may bring to the country.
A first
“What will people say when we are having a summit and landslides may be going on? There may be displaced persons, death,” the ambassador said.
“The decision was made in full consideration of the safety and welfare of the participants, the private individuals and groups involved in the different aspects of holding this important event, and the officials who are carrying out the preparations,” he said.
The National Government is confident the postponement of the activity, the first in the history of the Asean, will not affect in any way the commitment of the countries to sign the various agreements nor diminish the significance of the gathering.
The participating countries are expected to sign an agreement that will benefit the nurses and migrant workers, among others. Another hopes to set in motion an Asean charter that would make the 39-year-old association one based on binding rules, rather than consensus.
Most of the leaders would have started arriving today, just as tropical storm Seniang is expected to hit the province. Vietnam’s head of government, who was scheduled to arrive last night, did not do so.
The US, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Japan had warned Thursday that terrorists might be in the final stages of planning an attack during the summits in Cebu.
Options
“Categorically, I will state that the decision was based on this weather disturbance and this weather disturbance only,” Paynor said, adding there was a 70 percent chance that the storm would hit Cebu province.
Military chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said the 10,000-strong security contingent was prepared for anything.
“The assessment is that we have deployed enough security forces and, minus the weather, we are confident we could hold it,” Esperon said.
Paynor said that officials considered delaying the summit for a few days, along with a number of other alternatives, before deciding on postponement to early January. No dates were immediately announced.
Officials initially said foreign ministers would go ahead with their planned meetings today, but Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said they also decided to postpone their schedule beyond a breakfast meeting, partly because their Malaysian and Cambodian counterparts had not arrived yet.
“They told me they would like to leave tomorrow about lunchtime so when the typhoon comes they are already out,” Romulo said.
Samar today
The Philippines is still cleaning up from typhoon Reming, which crashed ashore a week ago and left more than 1,000 people dead or missing. It was the fourth “super typhoon” to hit the sprawling archipelago in four months.
Seniang is expected to make landfall over Samar this afternoon and cross Masbate, about 170 kilometers north of Cebu, on Sunday morning, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center said.
The Philippines had rushed to get ready to host the meeting, even building a new convention center from scratch that was still getting the final touches as preliminary meetings started, after Myanmar pulled out as host eight months ago.
“I feel a little sad, not for myself... but I know that a lot of Cebuanos have been preparing feverishly for the summit date,” Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said of the postponement. “However, it will give us more time to perfect what we are supposed to present. We look at the positive side, we move on and we move forward.”
Just before the postponement was announced, an official of the justice department’s National Bureau of Investigation told reporters that police had been put on alert for a possible threat to Cebu’s water supply.
The official, who spoke openly with reporters but declined to be named, said there were fears that two chemical spills earlier this month may have been test runs for an attack on Cebu’s water source.
“While the information is not considered an A-1 info, we are not taking chances,” he said.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Friday, December 08, 2006
Terror v. Cebu (Philippines): 5 nations warn
AT LEAST five countries have warned its citizens against traveling to Cebu for fear of terrorist attacks planned during the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit next week.
“We advise against all travel to Cebu Province, as we believe that terrorists are in the final stages of planning attacks,” said the advisory the British Embassy released Wednesday.
Within hours, separate advisories followed from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the United States.
All told their citizens to avoid travel to Cebu, even as Philippine security officials said they have not discovered any specific terror threats against the summit of the 10-member Asean, but that they could not discount them.
The Australian advisory urged “extreme caution and high levels of security awareness” for those attending meetings associated with the Asean.
“While security measures will be in place at conference venues, particular care should be taken to avoid locations known to be targeted by terrorists, such as places of worship, restaurants, shopping malls, hotels, hostels, guesthouses, bars, clubs, outdoor markets and transport and associated infrastructure,” read the advisory.
Low profile
The US Embassy warned US citizens living and working in Cebu “to reassess their personal security and to keep a low profile.”
Chief Supt. Silverio Alarcio Jr., who heads Task Force Cebu, down-played the advisories and said there was no specific threat from any terrorist group.
“Possibly this advisory is more of a general statement,” he said over radio dyLA, citing information from Interpol that there was no specific threat to Cebu.
French Interpol agents are expected to arrive tomorrow to help the authorities ensure terrorist groups cannot carry out any attack for the duration of the summit.
“Terrorism is a worldwide threat, we all know it’s a threat that constantly hovers everywhere, whether in New York, Paris or London itself,” said Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, when asked about the British advisory.
“We must face the fact that all major events are always attractive venues. That’s precisely why 5,000 police and other peacekeeping forces are in the local government units that are venues of the summit to ensure that delegates will be given adequate protection,” she said.
Safe
In his regular press conference, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he remains confident the island is “very, very safe.”
To help prepare the Special Weapons and Tactics teams of the cities of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu, Osmeña provided 6,000 rounds of M16 ammunitions yesterday for their warm-up exercises for the summit.
Leaders of the 10 Asean member-nations will also meet their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea next week. The second East Asian Summit on Dec. 13 also groups Australia, New Zealand and India.
A confidential government threat assessment report, seen by The Associated Press, cited groups that could pose a threat to the summit, including Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah and two Philippine groups, the Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The report said intelligence agencies have not monitored any specific plots against the Asean events by al-Qaeda-linked groups, but added such possibilities were not farfetched.
Quiet
“We have received information, but these are not validated threats,” military spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said.
Some 5,000 troops and police have been drafted in to provide security. But officials downplayed a threat to the summit, being hosted for the first time in Cebu.
“As far back as June, we received information of possible terrorist threats during the Asean summit, mainly the Abu Sayyaf and Raja Solaiman,” said Alarcio.
But Alarcio said there had been no recent information. “Our assets (informers) on the ground are telling us: no threat to the summit. This is a quiet region, we don’t have terror attacks. But we are on alert throughout Cebu.”
“We advise against all travel to Cebu Province, as we believe that terrorists are in the final stages of planning attacks,” said the advisory the British Embassy released Wednesday.
Within hours, separate advisories followed from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the United States.
All told their citizens to avoid travel to Cebu, even as Philippine security officials said they have not discovered any specific terror threats against the summit of the 10-member Asean, but that they could not discount them.
The Australian advisory urged “extreme caution and high levels of security awareness” for those attending meetings associated with the Asean.
“While security measures will be in place at conference venues, particular care should be taken to avoid locations known to be targeted by terrorists, such as places of worship, restaurants, shopping malls, hotels, hostels, guesthouses, bars, clubs, outdoor markets and transport and associated infrastructure,” read the advisory.
Low profile
The US Embassy warned US citizens living and working in Cebu “to reassess their personal security and to keep a low profile.”
Chief Supt. Silverio Alarcio Jr., who heads Task Force Cebu, down-played the advisories and said there was no specific threat from any terrorist group.
“Possibly this advisory is more of a general statement,” he said over radio dyLA, citing information from Interpol that there was no specific threat to Cebu.
French Interpol agents are expected to arrive tomorrow to help the authorities ensure terrorist groups cannot carry out any attack for the duration of the summit.
“Terrorism is a worldwide threat, we all know it’s a threat that constantly hovers everywhere, whether in New York, Paris or London itself,” said Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, when asked about the British advisory.
“We must face the fact that all major events are always attractive venues. That’s precisely why 5,000 police and other peacekeeping forces are in the local government units that are venues of the summit to ensure that delegates will be given adequate protection,” she said.
Safe
In his regular press conference, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he remains confident the island is “very, very safe.”
To help prepare the Special Weapons and Tactics teams of the cities of Cebu and Lapu-Lapu, Osmeña provided 6,000 rounds of M16 ammunitions yesterday for their warm-up exercises for the summit.
Leaders of the 10 Asean member-nations will also meet their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea next week. The second East Asian Summit on Dec. 13 also groups Australia, New Zealand and India.
A confidential government threat assessment report, seen by The Associated Press, cited groups that could pose a threat to the summit, including Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah and two Philippine groups, the Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
The report said intelligence agencies have not monitored any specific plots against the Asean events by al-Qaeda-linked groups, but added such possibilities were not farfetched.
Quiet
“We have received information, but these are not validated threats,” military spokesman Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said.
Some 5,000 troops and police have been drafted in to provide security. But officials downplayed a threat to the summit, being hosted for the first time in Cebu.
“As far back as June, we received information of possible terrorist threats during the Asean summit, mainly the Abu Sayyaf and Raja Solaiman,” said Alarcio.
But Alarcio said there had been no recent information. “Our assets (informers) on the ground are telling us: no threat to the summit. This is a quiet region, we don’t have terror attacks. But we are on alert throughout Cebu.”
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