RP ready to receive Asean Summit delegates

The country is now ready to receive the 16 heads of states and governments participating in the 12th ASEAN Summit to be held in Cebu City.

A half-day counter-sniper exercise signaled Tuesday the end of the month-long security preparations for the international event.

Retired Maj. Gen. Leo Alvez, chairman of the security committee, said a total of 10,000 military and police personnel were mobilized to secure the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) and other summit venues.

"We have prepared for everything that our security experts told us to prepare for. We have accomplished everything successfully from convoy runs, emergency air evacuation, civil disturbance management, and now even counter-sniping," said Alvez, a former chief of the Presidential Security Group (PSG).

He admitted though that traffic control needs improvement to minimize the inconvenience to the riding public.

"With confidence, I can tell you that the country is now more than ready to host the 12th ASEAN Summit. We are ready to meet the security challenges," he said.

In the past days, security personnel have been conducting rehearsals and dry runs. The counter-sniper exercise, participated in by some 20 PSG personnel, was the last in the series of security preparations for the summit.

"They were given a scenario and they took turns engaging their targets," Senior Superintendent Napoleon Taas, of the ASEAN security committee, told The STAR.

A UK-trained counter-sniper, Taas said the exercise held at the Club Filipino Golf Course in Danao City tested the mettle of the PSG snipers in effectively ranging and engaging targets all the way to 800 yards.

Earlier, Alvez said Cebu has been attracting local tourists because of the opening of various business establishments in time for the summit.

The crime rate in Metro Cebu has also dropped as the summit’s opening next week nears.

In a report, the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Central Visayas said there has been a steady decline in crime incidents over the past weeks.

Chief Superintendent Silverio Alarcio Jr., head of Task Group Cebu, said crime incidents were down 4.55 percent this year from 11,264 cases recorded in 2005 to only 10,752 this year.

Alarcio attributes the decline to the anti-crime drive being pushed as part of the security preparations the PNP is implementing all over the Cebu province for the summit.

"We have every corner of Cebu covered, not just the vicinity of the CICC but also the commercial districts where an increasing number of tourists are starting to move around," he said.

Alvez has warned those planning to stage protest actions during the summit that they would be "dealt with accordingly" if they fail to follow the law.

At this point, militant organizations are all set to air their opposition to the proposed moves to amend the Constitution before the ASEAN leaders.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), an umbrella group of activists’ organizations, along with the International League of People’s Struggle, would spearhead the daily mass actions against Charter amendments.

"We are looking at a barrage of protests for human rights, peace, justice and freedom against Charter change. Nothing short of a super typhoon can derail the protests now," said Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. "We are not intimidated by warnings issued by the PNP."

Meanwhile, during the five-day event, the ASEAN is expected, among others, to sign a pact liberalizing the nursing profession so that nurses in Southeast Asia can move freely and practice their profession within the region.

Business leaders say the Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) on nursing services to be signed next week can boost the region’s healthcare industry by raising the standards of training and attracting foreign investments into the sector.

On Monday, France will also sign on the sidelines of the summit a non-aggression treaty with the ASEAN, becoming the first European country to do so.

French Foreign Minister Philippine Douste-Blazy will sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation at the Philippine foreign ministry. — With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Katherine Adraneda, AFP