RP's Subic Bay gears up for APEC summit
RP's Subic Bay gears up for APEC summit
SUBIC BAY, Philippines (AFP): The summit of the Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum set for Nov. 25 is shaping up
as a logistical nightmare, with senior officials facing the
prospect of being put up in former military barracks here.
With security being an overriding concern, the Philippines
picked the former repair and supply yard of the U.S. 7th fleet as
the summit venue, bypassing the more conventional choice of
Manila.
Moreover the occasion would provide free advertisement for
Subic bay which the government is seeking to promote as a free
port.
A "tentative scenario" sketched by the organizing committee
features an unprecedented request to leaders of some of the
world's most powerful countries to leave their official planes in
Manila. They will be asked to share two "wide-bodied jets" for
the 30-minute trip to Subic Bay.
However, the leaders will be free "to use their own aircraft
if they wish, " Fernando Aristorenas, head of the legal
department of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority said at a
press briefing here.
The leaders are to meet at a refurbished former Air Force
officers' mess hall overlooking the Subic airport and Subic Bay,
and each will be retiring to one of 21 luxury villas currently
being built.
Sprucing up the spartan accommodations to measure up to summit
standards will cost US$25 million, including repairs on the
former Army barracks to bring the facility's total capacity up to
2,000 rooms and 4,000 beds.
The hosts expect 1,500 journalists to descend on Subic Bay to
cover the one-day event -- but they will have to make do with 200
telephone lines shared with APEC officials and their staff.
The press center will be situated 20 minutes by land to the
summit building. A bus service will be provided by the
government. All other land traffic towards the building is
banned.
The airport is capable of handling only 12 to 20 aircraft at a
time. That will compel Federal Express, which has just located
its regional Asian hub in Subic, to shut operations as no other
flights are to be allowed for security reasons.
"Contingency measures" will be in place for typhoons and other
acts of nature, but none were specified.
Subic Bay and Manila are linked by a highway that takes
between four and five hours to traverse, including a five-
kilometer (three-mile) stretch of bad roads caused by latent
mudflow from nearby Pinatubo volcano, which erupted in 1991. A
two-hour ferry service also operates.
If mudflow disrupts traffic, the APEC land traffic officials
said there is an alternate route -- one which adds up to six
hours' worth of additional travel time.
The Philippines, one of the poorest APEC economies, is
promoting Subic Bay, as a premiere investment zone. The area used
to be a U.S. Navy base until the United States decided to pull up
stakes in November 1992.
Japanese and Taiwanese development aid is helping transform
the facility into a free port and light industrial enclave.
Unless there is an APEC consensus, Taiwanese President Lee
Teng-hui will be a no-show. He made a flying visit here in 1994
for a not-so-secret "vacation diplomacy" meeting with Philippine
President Fidel Ramos. China protested.
Aside from the "two Chinas" and the hosts, APEC members also
include the economies of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Hong Kong,
Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea, Singapore and Thailand.