EDITORIAL - Postponed

Okay, blame it on the weather – although Philippine weather forecasters refuse to take responsibility. An official of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said in a TV interview yesterday that when asked for expert advice, they had in fact recommended that the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations push through as scheduled next week in Cebu. ASEAN summit organizers ignored the advice and postponed the event, resetting it to a still unspecified date in January.

The organizers cited the approaching typhoon with the local code name Seniang, which is expected to hit northern Cebu, for the postponement. The officials said a typhoon could mar the "near-perfect" setting that they wanted for the summit.

But putting off an international gathering when many of the participants have already arrived inevitably triggers suspicions that there is something more than bad weather that prompted the postponement. Speculation focused on security, since the postponement was announced on the heels of travel warnings from the United States, Britain and Australia, with Canada, Japan and New Zealand following suit, about a "credible" threat of a terrorist attack in Cebu during the summit. Another speculation was that the administration did not want to be embarrassed by rallies planned next week in Manila, coinciding with the summit, against the constituent assembly that the House of Representatives is convening without the Senate.

Regardless of the reason, the postponement is not good for the Philippines, which is already suffering from comparisons with its better performing neighbors. Even Vietnam has just successfully hosted the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which is bigger than the 10-member ASEAN.

Vietnam is not Asia’s welcome mat for weather disturbances from the Pacific. Apart from this, it faces no terrorist threat and does not suffer from political instability, thanks largely to an environment that does not tolerate dissent. Still, comparisons between the two countries as international hosts will be inevitable. And we will be the loser.