[asia-apec 88] APEC Summit Tests Manila's Mettle

[daga]

APEC Summit Tests Manila's Mettle
Philippines Hopes a Successful Meeting Will Dispel Backwater Image

by Jan Liden
Staff Reporter

The Asian Wall Street Journal, 2 September 1996

MANILA - The Philippines' drive to revitalize its economy in recent years
has won praise from businesspeople. But many Filipinos fear the news hasn't
spread far enough to shake the country's lingering reputation for natural
disasters, crime and economic stagnation. To them, successfully hosting
November's summit of Asian- Pacific leaders is just what the publicist ordered.

It's a tall order. The logistics alone are forbidding: Meetings will take
place in two locations 100 kilometers apart, separated by roads prone to
mudslides. On top of that, coaxing dramatic agreements from the annual
leaders' meeting of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum members will
require diplomatic finesse, diplomats and business executives say.

Organizers are undaunted. "We want to sell our country," says former Foreign
Secretary Roberto Romulo, now chairman of the APEC Busines Advisory Council.
"When we get this congregation here of [leaders], top CEOs and businessmen,
we hope that they will look at our eloquent story of growth here in the
Philippines."

A major chapter of that story has been Manila's success in harnessing the
private sector to address longstanding problems such as power shortages. Now
President Fidel Ramos aims to make this year's summit remembered for
applying that strategy to APEC. "We are keen on putting in (to APEC's work
process) a greater participation of the business sector in decision-making,"
the president says, "That is a new kind of equality in APEC."

President Ramos has invited the 54 executives who make up the APEC Business
Advisory Council to meet with the 18 heads of state for what Mr. Romulo
expects to be a "frank discussion" about the business sector's concerns. The
Philippines has also invited 22 leading executives from each member country
to participate in an APEC Business Forum in the days before the leaders'
meeting. The executives will join the advisory council in discussions about
how APEC can help promote business ties among member countries and in
conveying these ideas to trade ministers.

Politicians won't lecture to executives at the forum, Mr. Romulo insists,
adding, "The leaders are meant to listen to the businessmen."

So intent are Philippine officials on this goal that they have coined a
slogan: "APEC means business." But diplomats from some other countries say
this year's priority should be getting down to business of another sort:
taking further steps towards APEC's stated goal of regional trade by 2020.

Each of the past summits has ended in a milestone on the road to that goal.
In Seattle in 1993 the leaders gathered for the first time, catapulting APEC
from an economic talking shop to a high-priority international forum. In
Bogor, Indonesia, in 1994, leaders agreed on the goal of free trade by 2020.
And last year in Osaka, Japan, they set a formula for reaching that goal.

As the host and leader of APEC's meeting this year, the Philippines has
accepted the responsibility of making the 1996 summit a similar turning
point. Problem is, the work that remains is hammering out details --
essential but not glamorous.

"It's a thankless task," a diplomat from an APEC country says about
arranging this year leaders' meeting. "All the spectacular decisions have
been made. What is left now is hard work, and nothing exciting will come out
of it this year."

All APEC member countries have submitted action plans -- for many countries
little more than sketches -- outlining how they will achieve free trade
following the formula set in Osaka. Finalizing the plans will take years,
says Ambassador John Wolf, the U.S. senior coordinator for APEC. "We expect
a concrete start to be made this year," he says. "But it would be a mistake
to assume that the answers will be contained in the individual action plans
this year."

Customs Procedures

Yet Manila has been driving efforts in committee meetings throughout the
year to get some concrete results to show in November. Philippine officials
and business leaders expect that at least some APEC nations will agree by
then on conditions for a unified multi-entry business visa. Ths would allow
business representatives to travel without further formalities to these
countries for a certain period, perhaps a year. There is also hope --
although less expectation -- of an agreement this year on harmonizing
customs procedures.

Manila is earning praise for its efforts. "Most (countries' officials) agree
that this year has been surprisingly successful so far, but that is in part
because the expectations were low," says an Australian diplomat involved in
the work.

"The Philippines has been able to argue very well for its initiatives and
convince the other members that they are good ones," another diplomat adds.

Still, the line between success and embarrassment--even disaster-- is thin.
The hosts will have to pull off a gargantuan feat of logistics to lodge,
transport and assure the safety of the 18 heads of state and the 8,000 other
visitors the summit is expected to draw.

By deciding to hold the meeting both in Manila and in Subic Bay, a former
U.S. naval base turned free port zone, President Ramos has given the
organizers a few extra challenges. The only road between Subic and Manila is
threatened by millions of tons of volcanic mud washing down from Mt.
Pinatubo every time it rains. As a result, most transport will have to be by
air and sea. Yet the Manila and Subic airports don't have enough spare
parking space to accomodate the planes of all 18 heads of state, admits the
media coordinator for the APEC meeting, Rodolfo Reyes.

The hosts have suggested that 10 of the leaders fly to Subic in two
chartered jets, but none of the leaders have so far accepted the idea. Some
diplomats comment that it seems risky to put all the eggs in one basket, or
as it were, in two planes. And protocol is tricky: Which leaders and their
aides will get to sit in the front of the plane?

Then there is the security threat. Terrorists have been known to use Manila
as a base. Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, currently being tried on charges related to
the bombing of New York's World Tade Center, was arrested here. Organizers
will also have to worry about a group of Muslim separatists in the south of
the country who have refused to participate in a peace agreement between
another rebel group and the government. The splinter group may mount an
attack during the APEC meeting to undermine the peace deal, warns
intelligence experts at some foreign embassies in Manila.

"This is the biggest, the most elaborate, the most difficult [security plan]
. . . since the founding of our republic," says Philippine Gen. Lisandro
Abadia, who is in charge of the summit organizing committee. Gen. Abadia
plans to deploy more than 10,000 security people during the meeting. In
addition, each country will bring its own security contingent.

All this is scheduled to take place in a city of 10 million people that is
chaotic at the best of times, with traffic often clogged for hours. Manila
has just 7,300 four and five-star hotel rooms, estimates the Department of
Tourism-- meaning the 8,000 APEC guests and journalits will drive most other
guests out of the city for nearly a week.

Full of Praise

Logistical tangles could unravel any goodwill earned by Philippine
officials' efforts to get results from this year's APEC summit. Although its
officials in charge are optimistic and foreign diplomats are full of praise
for the country's efforts so far, fears linger among the population over
whether the summit may be too big an event for the Philippines to arrange
this early in its recovery.

When it comes to the substance of the meetings, "The Philippines has done
the necessary homework," writes President Ramos's special APEC adviser,
Jesus Estanislao, in a book about APEC published last month.

The former finance minister adds, however, that "doubts are widespread among
Filipinos and are shared by many foreigners . . . about our ability to chair
and play host to the APEC meetings."