Proof of the pudding is in the eating

Just like a NASA spacecraft launching, the 12th ASEAN Summit is now at its week-long final countdown. Unless earthshaking event happens and/or serious flaws intervene to abort its launching, the summit proceeds as planned.

Whether or not the four-day historical event, for Cebu especially, unfolds without major hitches or glitches, from opening day to the end, is a matter of speculation which is more on the positive side. Optimism is likely because of hectic preparations, the seemingly bottomless funding, and the coordinated efforts put in.

Perhaps, the checklist to judge the Summit's success or failure later, has to reckon with presentability, accommodations cum cuisine and culinary perks, transport and telecom facilities, meeting venues, traffic, peace and order, and the last but the most crucial is security.

What readily meets the visitors' eyes are well-paved streets, painted and decorated curbs and gutters, spanking new CICC and ornate grounds, etc. that are palpable and visible. The stark reality which wont escape the visitors' notice is all these new ostentations - not the usual - are for their eyes only and for this occasion also.

Just for variety, here's a mild shocker... Suppose out of hordes of foreign media covering the Summit, say, one or two enterprising reporters would meander beyond the official Summit goings-on that are regimented and strictly programmed. What a stupendous human interest story should a foreign journalist focus on the "real" Cebu environs and the "real" Cebuano in the nooks and crannies of the barrios where roads and by-ways are dilapidated, street lighting is already dimming, drainage atrocious, garbage uncollected, and the faces of poverty so revealing, like, bare or hardly clad street urchins gambol unbathe... Well, how's that as a more realistic pudding?

Coming back to the scripted agenda... Accommodations of the delegates, their retinue and other visitors are no problem... Cuisine and culinary perks are also a breeze since all contracted hotels have anticipated them. Meeting venues for around 90 sessions are likewise taken care of. Transport and communications needs for all visitors, including foreign media have all been factored, particularly on info-tech amenities installed at the CICC.

As for street traffic directly relating to the Summit and the summiteers, this doesn't also pose any hitches as designated routes are off-limits to the public. But, the traffic headaches along limited open routes for the public become a huge snafu.

As for peace and order, there would be zero street crimes, what with the PNP and AFP peacekeepers glutting the streets and other designated places. However, this could be affected by the agenda of the uncowed militant activists who are determined to hold their street marches and demos in Summit venues.

What's iffy is Security against the silent terrorists. On the surface, there appears no cause for alarm as no intelligence on the presence or movement of radical jihadists, like, the Al Qaeda, or the Jemaah Islamiyah has so far been detected. And, may it be so. In fact, the leftist rabble-rousers are bad-mouthing the Summit security tactical measures as "overkill"... While there's no 100 percent terrorism-free security as sadly proved in many terroristic acts in the world, like, the 9/11 in America and many more elsewhere, Cebuanos have just to cross their fingers that no such terroristic incursion could derail or mar the Summit.

But with the skewed mind set of evil doers, it's prudent that security measures and anti-terrorism vigilance shall not only be confined to the ASEAN Summit venues and hotels accommodating the summiteers and their retinue and visitors. Outside the Summit venues, like malls, churches, and other public places where people converge, have to be put just as security-minded. Overall, the cited factors to gauge the success or failure of the ASEAN Summit, the matter of peace, safety, and security is foremost and, there lies the ultimate test of the ASEAN Summit pudding.

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