Critics blast Manila's APEC preparation

Critics blast Manila's APEC preparation

MANILA (Reuter): President Fidel Ramos has described the APEC summit as a chance for the Philippines to put on its best face, but critics said yesterday summit preparations have evoked the ugliest years of Marcos-era authoritarianism.

"According to APEC officials, APEC is intended to generate jobs and to help vulnerable sectors of society," Omi Royandoyan, secretary-general of a "parallel summit" of social activists, said in an interview.

"But in reality what is happening is the opposite," he said.

Organizers of the Nov. 22-23 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) foreign ministers' meeting and the Nov. 25 summit have used concerns over security to justify a number of unpopular measures.

Squatters' homes have been destroyed in Manila, farmers have been evicted from land they have tilled for years near an airfield to be used by APEC leaders, and Nobel Peace Prize co- winner Jose Ramos-Horta has been barred from entering the country, triggering embarrassing headlines worldwide.

Gen. Lisandro Abadia, head of the APEC National Organizing Commission and like Ramos a former armed forces chief, is adamant that security must come first for the visiting leaders, who include U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Abadia said on the local television that the Philippines would accept a "passing grade" of 95 percent for most APEC arrangements, such as accommodation and transportation for the estimated 6,000 foreign visitors.

But, he added: "(For) security, you must be 100 percent."

Despite peace accords with mainstream rebels, the Philippines still has active Moslem and leftist extremist groups with a bloody track record. Security officials, however, say no specific threat has been identified.

But critics say the very people who most need the prosperity which APEC's free-trade commitment is supposed to bring are the ones being made to suffer as the summit nears.

Royandoyan said the measures are actually a case of the government using its limited resources to try to conceal the country's poverty.

"That's similar to the Marcos years," Royandoyan said, referring to the 20-year authoritarian rule of late president Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda.

Imelda Marcos spent lavishly on high-profile projects, such as the convention center where the APEC ministerial meeting will be held, while the government neglected basic infrastructure needs.

The Marcoses were overthrown in a popular uprising 10 years ago.

Under Ramos, the Philippines has staged what economists see as a remarkable economic revival which the government wants to display during the APEC meetings to attract further foreign investments.

Ramos himself has said tackling poverty remains a major concern. But despite his government's progress, more than a third of the population of nearly 70 million people live in poverty.