Paynor confident of CICC completion but says 'Plan B' is also in place

Ambassador Marciano Paynor, secretary general of the National Organizing Committee of the 12th ASEAN Summit, yesterday said he has been confident that the Cebu International Convention Center would be finished in time as the venue of the event.

As the Summit days draw near, concerns over the timely completion of the CICC continued to hound the committee but Paynor assured the public that a "Plan B" has already been laid in case "worse comes to worst."

Paynor however refused to give details on Plan B but said that is it perfectly the same as the preparations for the CICC because it was already there since January. The "construction of the CICC is in place although there are some delays," he said.

Paynor said everything must be ready by November 15 because, as early as December 6, ministers will be coming for the meetings before the ASEAN Summit proper from December 11 to 14.

By December 4, he said the media center should also be ready to serve at least 2,500 media men from the international and local press.

With the large number of press people expected to cover the event, the Summit's media and communications secretariat will also set up the International Media Center at the CICC with complete facilities to handle the needs of these people.

The IMC would be located at the upper ground floor of the CICC and would be opened officially on December 4, from 6 a.m. to midnight. There would also be a briefing room where press people would be provided with details on issues that would be tackled and discussed in the summit.

Paynor yesterday called on local media to adopt a major change in attitude in presenting news, which is necessary to leave a positive impression to summit delegates and visitors.

He said the espousal of a culture of violence in television and newspapers would not be palatable to the international visitors, Paynor said.

"We should reconcile the idea of Filipinos as hospitable and caring and what is coming out in the news showing the Philippines as a violent country," he said, adding that media establishments should also reconcile business and profit with their moral obligation to the public.

Paynor said it will be an expected fact that heads of state and their ministers, as participants in the summit, would not actually really remember their serious close door discussions at the end of the event.

What they would remember, as they go home, are the good time they have here, the food, and the welcoming community, he said, emphasizing that making the summit hosting successful should not only fall on the shoulders of the government or the media but also on the community.

There are three major measures of success for the summit, Paynor said. These are the participation of all heads of states; the substantive output that would be valuable for future summits; and the peace and order through the entire duration of the event, he said. - Joeberth M. Ocao, Wenna A. Berondo and Jasmin R. Uy