ASEAN trade event in Bohol will push through: DILG

April 15, 2017

A senior officials meeting of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations hosted by the Department of Trade and Industry will push through despite last Tuesday’s battle between the military and Abu Sayyaf gunmen in Inabanga town, Bohol. In a statement on Saturday, Interior and Local Government officer-in-charge Catalino Cuy assured the participants to the scheduled ASEAN activity on April 19-20 in Bohol it will ‘go on as planned’ in Panglao. Cuy, chairman of the Committee on Security, Peace and Order, Emergency Preparedness and Response (CSPOEPR) of the ASEAN National Organizing Committee said Bohol “might as well be considered a well-fortified and most secure place in the country right now”. Three soldiers and a policemen were killed while at least six Abu Sayyaf perished. Cuy echoed the sentiment of Bohol Governor Edgar Chatto in a televised interview the “situation in (Inabanga) was contained… and did not affect the rest of Bohol or the rest of the country.” Inabanga is about 80 kilometers away from the venue (Panglao Island, close to the capital Tagbilaran City) and it is almost a two-hour journey by land. The Bohol meetings will be held at the Hennan Resort in Panglao and about 141 ministerial, senior official and technical working group meetings are expected to be conducted throughout the year. Cuy, a retired police general, said the “military and the police are on top of the situation. We would like to assure the delegates, tourists and residents alike that we are exerting our best efforts for Bohol”. About 4,000 personnel from the Philippine National Police, AFP, emergency response units and various agencies will be deployed during the ASEAN Summit meetings which are expected to draw around 200 delegates. Cuy said based on the scheduled year-long activities from ASEAN, the conference in Bohol will include the Intersessional Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Trade Negotiating committee ASEAN Caucus Meeting (ISSL-RCEP TNC). On April 26 to 29, Metro Manila will play host to the 30th ASEAN Summit, with the major summit on the last day to be held at the Philippine International Convention Center. The Philippines chairs the ASEAN Summit 2017 and will also host the 31st ASEAN Summit on November 10-14 in Clark, Pampanga. The country’s chairmanship coincides with 50th Anniversary of the 10-nation bloc. DMS