PNP to exercise maximum tolerance during Asean summit

The police will exert their best effort to implement the policy of maximum tolerance against militant groups and foreign nationals who will stage protest rallies during the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Cebu City on Dec. 10 to 14.

Malacañang, the summit organizers and the Central Visayas police, however, said that a "no permit, no rally" policy will be strictly enforced during the event.

Mass actions would be allowed only in areas designated by the Cebu City government or at the Freedom Park. Streets near the venue of meetings of the ASEAN heads of state will be strictly off-limits to protesters.

"Our policies under the law are: no permit, no rally and maximum tolerance. That’s basically how we are going to handle the protest rallies," Chief Superintendent Silverio Alarcio Jr., Central Visayas police director and chairman of the ASEAN committee on security preparations, said.

Alarcio called on the public to stay away from rallies and help convince militant groups not to stage protest actions during the four-day summit. He said he is even willing to sit down with militant leaders to discuss things.

"I am asking the people of Cebu to convince them not to spoil our preparations for the summit… We are all Filipinos and we are doing this for the country," he said.

In a telephone interview with Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, he said the government will not violate Batas Pambansa 880 or the Public Assembly Act of 1985 in containing protest actions, even those initiated by foreign rallyists.

"Our rules of engagement with foreign rallyists is maximum tolerance. That is what BP 880 provides. We have to abide by the law," Gonzalez said.

He also clarified that the statement attributed to him in earlier previous reports that "they will feed to the sharks the local and foreign activists plotting to disrupt the summit" was just a figure of speech.

Meanwhile, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director Oscar Calderon said "no gun zones" and "restricted fly zones" will be designated in Metro Cebu’s airspace in coordination with air transportation authorities.

"We can’t take chances, we have to ensure the security on air, land and sea," he said.

Calderon spent the weekend in Cebu to check the security preparations being undertaken by the police. As far as security is concerned, he is confident that the PNP is well prepared for the event.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) has announced that it will assign a medical specialist to each of the top leaders of Southeast Asian countries who will attend the summit.

Dr. Susana Madarieta, DOH regional director for Central Visayas, said they have requested the Presidential Security Group (PSG) to provide them with the medical profiles of the ASEAN leaders so they can assign a specialist for each of the dignitaries.

A total of 19 top ASEAN leaders are expected to attend the meeting.

All set?

The Freeman reported that an onsite inspection of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) was conducted by Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia yesterday with the media in tow to show that there was a substantial completion of the facility.

When the governor arrived at the plenary hall, men were seen installing a few more panels for the ceiling and working on the partly spread carpet on the floor.

At the exhibition hall, what needs to be completed is the air-conditioning. But the International Media Center (IMC), which has been turned over to Malacañang already, has 72 partitions as of yesterday, 62 of which were already assigned to clients, including Bloomberg, AFP and Reuters.

Although Garcia has been visiting the CICC four times a day since last week, she opted to bring the media in her afternoon visit yesterday to dispute statements from detractors that the capitol has yet to award the contract for the supply and installation of air-conditioning units at the CICC.

Garcia had earlier terminated contract of its previous contractor.

The new contractor, Alenaire Cebu Inc., has reportedly completed air-conditioning works at CICC in nine days, compared to the two months’ worth work put in by the previous contractor. — Aurea Calica, Shiela Crisostomo, Freeman News Service