Manila has tight security ahead of APEC meeting

Manila has tight security ahead of APEC meeting

MANILA (AFP): Philippine forces imposed a security clampdown
around key areas yesterday to ensure that the country's hosting
of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum meetings
goes without a hitch.

Intelligence sources confirmed that advance security teams for
the various heads of state attending the meeting, had begun
arriving in the country.

The APEC summit -- involving 18 members' heads of state or
representatives -- will take place on Nov. 25.

At least 50 Secret Service men in charge of protecting U.S.
President Bill Clinton were among the first to arrive yesterday,
bringing in two Sea Stallion helicopters and crateloads of
equipment from Guam aboard a military transport, witnesses said.

The other heads of state attending include Japanese Prime
Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, Chinese President Jiang Zemin and
Indonesian President Soeharto.

Starting midnight, the section of the Subic freeport where the
APEC leaders' summit will be held, and a huge bayside compound in
Manila, where preliminary meetings will take place, will be
cordoned off to all but those involved.

"Our foreign counterparts are already confident about the
security preparations in Subic but they are still wary about the
security arrangements in Manila," one security source said.

The Army has deployed a company of soldiers to secure the
edges of the sprawling Subic freeport against the entry of any
communist guerrillas even though military officials admit that
the threat from this group is remote.

The senior officials attending the preliminary APEC meetings
will begin arriving today with most of the heads of state
arriving only on Nov. 24.

Despite criticism by militant groups that the government is
resorting to the strong-arm tactics of the late deposed dictator
Ferdinand Marcos, the administration remains firm in its attempts
to foil any attempt to embarrass the country during the meetings.

"We have not received any specific threat so far, but let me
stress that whether we have intelligence (reports) or not we will
assume there is," said retired armed forces chief of staff
Lisandro Abadia, head of the APEC national organizing committee.

Various foreigners have been barred from entering the country
on suspicion that their presence would disrupt the summit. Among
them is Nobel Peace Prize co-winner Jose Ramos Horta, a critic of
Indonesia's policy on East Timor, a former Portuguese colony
which integrated into Indonesia in 1976.

While no real terrorist plots have been uncovered, leftist
groups have vowed to stage massive protests against APEC,
including a scheduled protest vehicle "caravan" from Manila to
Subic, to coincide with the summit there.

A "dry run" of the caravan, held on Nov. 14, ended messily
when residents and authorities in the city of Olongapo City, just
outside Subic, forcibly prevented the activists from approaching
the site.

Undeterred, organizers have promised to bring 7,000 people in
various vehicles for another "caravan" to start from Manila on
Nov. 24.

Presidential legal adviser Renato Cayetano warned yesterday
that while they might have the right to use the highway, they
would not be allowed to impede traffic.

Police arrested 13 leftist activists yesterday for plastering
anti-APEC posters on walls in Manila.

Although the activists are being charged with vandalism,
rather than for opposing APEC, their arrests reflect the
increased vigilance of the authorities who in the past, often
ignored the leftists' frequent defacement of private property
during their demonstrations.