Soldiers, cops to secure 1,700 APEC delegates in Clark

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines – Over 200 military and police personnel will secure some 1,700 delegates to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which starts here on Jan. 21.

An undisclosed number of other government security personnel will complement them outside this freeport.

Chief Superintendent Ronald Santos, Police Regional Office-3 officer-in-charge, said 380 police officers of the regional headquarters would also be deployed for the event.

Santos said each of the five provinces were asked to deploy at least 300 of their police personnel.

Clark Development Corp. president and chief executive officer Arthur Tugade said Clark is prepared to host the first of a series of APEC meetings.

Tugade said the first senior finance officials’ meeting is from Jan. 21 to 22 while  more meetings are set on Jan. 26 to Feb. 7.

He said the Philippines is hosting the APEC after 20 years, adding the next time the country will host it is in the next 22 years.

“It is because of this that Clark’s hosting this year’s APEC should have substantive results, good memories and impressions of the places where the summits were hosted,” he said.

Tugade said the newly constructed convention center at the Fontana Leisure Estate, which can accommodate 2,000 people, will be the venue of the main conferences. – With Ric Sapnu