ASEAN SUMMIT in CEBU

[boy_kotong]

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OT: hapit kasagaran na mga construction naa jud mamatay noh?

[georgecebu]

kasagaran manga dagko na project naa gyud kuhaon

[nab_uang]

AFP force set to help secure Asean summit in Cebu

By Jeannette I. Andrade, Reporter
The Manila Times
16/10/06

THE Armed Forces has formed a large augmentation force to help secure the 10 Asian heads of states and other foreign dignitaries who are coming over to take part in the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in December.

Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, AFP spokesman, said the military will support the Philippine National Police, who has the primary task to keep order. He said the government will not allow local and international terror groups, who have been responsible for the series of bombings in Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato, to target the participants.

According to Bacarro, Brig. Gen. Francisco Villa, deputy commander of Central Command, will head Task Force Alalay, which has three components. The 2nd Tactical Operations Wing, the Central Naval Forces and the 302nd Infantry Battalion will provide sea, land and air securities in, around and above Cebu City, which will host the summit from December 4 to 13.

The Army’s 46th Infantry Battalion from Samar and the 7th Marine Battalion Landing Team from Manila will be deployed to the city as early as the first week of November. Likewise, elements from the PNP Explosives and Ordnance Division with the K-9 units, the Army Civil Disturbance Management and the Air Force Special Operations Wing will also be dispatched.

From the looks of it, the security arrangement will be as extensive as the APEC meeting in 1996 and the 112th InterparliaÂ*mentary Union Meeting and 23rd SEA Games in 2005.

The PNP has formed Task Force Asean Summit, composed of seven groups, to secure the sites of the international forum. It has provided special training, specifically in VIP security, for 6,000 of its personnel. It has also held a series of conferences and ocular inspections with the augmentation force as part of the preparation to secure the venue.

As early as June the PNP has stocked up on 208 police patrol jeeps, 203 patrol cars, 279 motorcycles, 5,000 handguns, as well as 250 hand-held transceivers, 10 mobile and 5 base radio sets and other communications equipment.

Experts from the US, Australia, the United Kingdom and the International Police provided the training in intelligence, counterintelligence and antiterrorism.

[omad]

I'm neither an architect nor a civil engineer.. and I'm not too familiar with construction either, specially those with these magnitude. if these guys (architects and engineers) say that CICC would be done by Nov. 15 then I'll trust them. I'll trust them compared to the politicians, the media or other critics who are doubting the capabilities of the contractors who are in-charge of this project.

and here's the catch, not only that they'll (critics) get vindicated if and when the CICC won't be completed on time, they'll also get a whopping P1,500,000 cash if they'll (critics) accept Manuel Guanzon's bet.

but for sure, they (critics) won't... 'coz if they (critics) are that sure, I'd advice them to put their money where their mouth is...

while there was no takers for the half-a-million bet, so much more that Guanzon upped the ante to P1.5M.

... any takers
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Architect hikes his bet to P1.5M
By Jeanette P. Malinao
Sun.Star Staff Reporter

BECAUSE of the never-ending doubt on the completion of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) by Nov. 15, architect Manuel Guanzon yesterday raised his bet to P1.5 million that it will be finished.

He earlier said he will bet P500,000 but there were no takers.

Completing the structure at the Mandaue Reclamation Area is not a matter of being optimistic or pessimistic, “We just have to do it,� Guanzon said.

Whatever number of days left for the builders will be times three since they are working on three shifts or 24 hours, he pointed out.

But former senator John “Sonny� Osmeña is not buying that.

Osmeña said in a radio dyLA interview yesterday that from what he is seeing, the CICC cannot be finished on the target date. What will be finished maybe the building’s framework but not the electrical works and others, he said.

And even if it will be completed, a source from Malacañang told him that it is Shangri-la’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa that will be used for the Asean summit and not the CICC.

Ten heads of state of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and their dialogue partners from Asia and Europe will gather in Cebu in December.

This is the first time Cebu is hosting the event.

Work on the CICC’s substructure started in March. The facility is expected to cost the Provincial Government about P450 million.

Capitol has insisted that the CICC will be finished on Nov. 15.

But Osmeña is not taking Guanzon’s bet, calling it “surambao.� He also called the governor’s act of rushing the work as an “Imeldific behavior.�

A member of the United Architects of the Philippines who requested anonymity said that the workers are certain to finish the CICC shell on time, with its rooms and partitions.

The doubts, he said, rest on whether the CICC will be fully operational.

full story
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[nab_uang]

Engineer Guanzon is very serious about it. He raised his bet to P1.5M that CICC will be completed on time. Kung naa kay pag-duda you can challenge him. But make sure you have 1.5M also... he he he...

[img width=332 height=500]http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/16/architectoct18fz3.jpg[/img]

[tolstoi]

Cebu has enough rooms for Asean Summit delegates

Cebu City (17 October) -- Cebu has sufficient number of rooms to accommodate the thousands of foreign and local delegates that will participate in the forthcoming 12th Asean Summit this December.

Tourism Undersecretary Phineas Alburo during the 888 News Forum this morning at the Parklane International Hotel assured there are a total of 3,746 rooms available for the entire delegation. Of the whole figure, 1,274 rooms have already been confirmed for both foreign media and businessmen attending the Asean Business Investors Forum. Based on their latest record, 699 confirmed rooms have been allocated for the media and 575 rooms for the business delegates, according to Alburo.

There is still an available balance of 2,472 rooms as of today although the number of rooms needed by media and business delegates may still rise, Alburo disclosed.

About 2,000 foreign and local media are expected to cover the summit, Alburo disclosed.

Alburo surmised that even if the 18 Heads of States and its entire delegation would take up 2,000 rooms, we are still safe with a 472-room balance.

"We have already advised the respective embassies of participating countries to send in their request on the number of rooms as the cut-off date for hotel accommodation is at the end of the month or October 31," Alburo stated.

Japan is said to have booked 200 rooms at the Hilton for the official delegation and the accompanying media while another 50 rooms have been booked at the Cebu Pacific Resort for their air crew, this was said. It is expected that quite a number of Japanese journalists will be tagging along with their official delegation to Cebu, as this is the first official trip of the newly installed Prime Minister of Japan outside its country. @weed.take care of those Japs :mrgreen:

It is likewise expected that the hotels and resorts in Cebu providing the accommodation for the foreign visitors will have higher rate charges than the usual as these hotels and resorts are also investing on improving their establishments.

"It is not also fair for government to dictate hotel rates," Alburo quoted. The tourism official said government is promoting free enterprise but in case a hotel charges US $1,000 for just an ordinary room then that can be a reason for complaint.

There are also 150 student volunteers that will be fielded in 37 hotels and resorts in the cities of Cebu and Lapulapu to man the information assistance desks. These volunteers composed of 4th year tourism college students from three local universities are assigned to assist delegates where to go in case they want to procure medicine, have their eyeglasses fixed, or go to the dentist and where the nearest moneychanger is located, Alburo further said.

The information assistance desks in the hotels and resorts are open for 16-hours where the four assigned student volunteers per hotel/resort will work in two shifts. The first batch will report from 7 a.m. - 3 p.m. and the second group takes over from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., this was bared.

Alburo said the student volunteers will be graded by their teachers who will also be moving around the identified venues as it will serve as part of their apprenticeship program. They will be provided with free meals and transportation allowance and at the end of the summit, student volunteers will be given certificates, Alburo added.

A tourist map guide of Cebu featuring the hotels, resorts, restaurants offering specialty dishes, shopping malls and other significant destinations will be produced for the visiting foreign delegates, Alburo said. (PIA-Cebu/FCR)

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2T taxi drivers train on courtesy, road safety for Asean Summit

Cebu City (17 October) -- About 2,000 taxi drivers in Cebu have already undergone training on basic courtesy and road safety as part of the continuing 'Visitors-Friendly Taxi Service' program in preparation for the coming 12th Asean Summit.

Tourism Usec. Phineas Alburo said they are targeting 4,000 taxi drivers to be trained in Cebu but they are still waiting for the release of the approved budget from the National Organizing Committee for the 12th Asean Summit. Earlier, it was said that a budget of P700T has been allocated for such training that will cover information materials, meals and honorarium for the participants.

For the meantime, the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA) is initially pitching in their resources for the half-day crash course, Alburo noted.

As an incentive, the trained taxi drivers who will be issued a certificate of attendance that must be hang in their unit's rearview mirror are the only ones qualified to service customers including summit delegates billeted in the different hotels and resorts here, according to Alburo.

The tourism official also said they will ask SM and Ayala malls to allow only trained taxi drivers to service their customers.

Under the program, the taxi drivers will be oriented on values, proper hygiene, basic courtesy, road safety and cultural sensitivity or the "Do's and Don'ts" and they must be in suitable uniform while their units must be clean and in good condition.

The trained taxi drivers cannot also abuse their privilege by charging excessively, as the list of trained drivers are inputted in a database system and given to the security committee. Any unpropitious action on their part can easily be traced that is why we closely coordinating with the taxi operators group, Alburo emphasized.

Last August, a memorandum of understanding was signed among four government agencies and a taxi operators group to undertake the 'Visitors-Friendly Taxi Service' program. These agencies were the Department of Tourism (DOT-7), TESDA-7, Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB-7) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO-7).

The LTO-7 will provide the guidelines on road safety and courtesy while the TESDA-7 through the Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise is responsible for the sessions on work ethics.

Alburo said the training is a continuing program for taxi drivers even beyond the summit with the program to be replicated in other parts of the country. (PIA-Cebu/FCR)

[weedmeister2]

Japan is said to have booked 200 rooms at the Hilton for the official delegation and the accompanying media while another 50 rooms have been booked at the Cebu Pacific Resort for their air crew, this was said. It is expected that quite a number of Japanese journalists will be tagging along with their official delegation to Cebu, as this is the first official trip of the newly installed Prime Minister of Japan outside its country. @weed.take care of those Japs :mrgreen:

Heheheh, we surely will bai!!! Grabe gyud ang preparations... but it will be all worth it! It's Cebu's turn to shine, and shine we will!!!! :mrgreen:

[arnoldsa]

^^

maka-libat man ang font ni Tolstoi, hehehe..

[digitalsuperman]

oohh cebu, shine nah!!!...hehehe..

hala sa? grabeha gud..200 for delegations plus 50 for other crews?? wow..grabe gyud diay.

[nab_uang]

Below pic (from TheFreeman) is the interior of the CICC. With a month to go before the deadline for the completion. Duda ko murag dili 100% mahuman...