Philippines says ASEAN preparations going to plan

CEBU CITY, Philippines, Oct 13 (Reuters) The Philippines insisted today it was on track to host a summit of Asian leaders in December despite a showcase venue still being built.

Manila now holds the rotating chairmanship of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and hopes to use the group's annual meeting to parade the charms of the central city of Cebu, 580 km south of the capital.

But with eight weeks to go, the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC), which is meant to house a large part of the three-day summit, looks like a gigantic climbing frame.

The CICC has yet to have its glass walls installed and there are no interior fittings. After work on the site began in March, about 600 builders are now toiling round the clock following delays in delivering some materials that held up construction.

Locals laugh and say ''maybe'' when asked if they think the CICC will be ready by a November 15 deadline. But architect Manuel Guanzon has bet 500,000 pesos on it and has said the structure is 90 per cent complete.

Gwendolyn Garcia, the governor of Cebu province, is also confident everything will be ready for some 5,000 delegates, journalists and security personnel well before the formal sessions on December 6-13.

''We promised to deliver it on time and we are working very hard to achieve that,'' she told Reuters.

But a senior foreign affairs official, who declined to be identified, said all official meetings would be held at the summit's other venue, the Shangri-La Hotel on Mactan island, 17 km from the CICC and accessible via two bridges.

LOGISTICS NIGHTMARE Leaders of the 10 ASEAN countries -- Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- meet amongst themselves first. They then hold an East Asia summit with the heads of China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand. Officials from Russia, France and the European Union are also due to attend the meetings.

Some foreign diplomats were edgy about arrangements for such a large influx to a city frequently snarled by traffic.

''We know very well it's going to be a nightmare in terms of logistics,'' said one Malaysian diplomat.

''Foreign delegates will have to stay quite far from the venues. There are not enough hotel rooms and I heard there will be two separate venues, one near the airport and the other at the conference centre.'' Security is also a concern with the Philippines fighting communist and Muslim insurgencies. This week, a series of bombings, blamed on Islamic militants, killed six people and wounded around 30 on the southern island of Mindanao.

Dian Triansyah Djani, director general for ASEAN at the Indonesian foreign ministry, said Jakarta had no problem with the arrangements.

''Philippine officials said they would go ahead with holding the summit in Cebu and preparations are according to the plans,'' he said. ''They still have a couple of months to prepare and we are confident everything will be ready.'' Marciano Paynor, secretary general for the Philippines' ASEAN Organising Committee, said preparations were on track but acknowledged that Cebu, a busy port city and manufacturing hub, had plenty to do before December.

''It does not have all the facilities that a normal convention city would have,'' he said. ''But Cebu is trying its best to accommodate.'' REUTERS SP HT1445