AASEAN Leaders Arrive; Dateline ‘Cebu, Philippines’

AS summit host to Asian nations and other partners, Cebu mounts a unique world stage, hoping to get recognition beyond the weekend conference.

Four of 16 heads of state — those of Brunei, Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar — arrived in Cebu starting 4 p.m. yesterday.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo flies in today with heads of state and government of six other countries – ASEAN members Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand and observer Timor Leste, with others to follow over the weekend.

The group’s first gathering takes place in the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) for cocktails and a glimpse of festival dancers who bring Cebu another source of international renown, the Sinulog.

The annual Sinulog street-dancing parade and celebration, which falls on Jan. 21 this year, is based on centuries-old devotion to the Holy Child in the image of the Señor Sto. Niño, believed to be miraculous by thousands of Catholic believers.

Both the 12th ASEAN Summit and Sinulog 2007 will have separate kickoff parades and cultural performances this afternoon in Mandaue city and Cebu City , respectively.

Dateline

Behind the scenes, credit for the location of the summit is a fine matter for the two cities whose mayors don’t always see eye to eye.

The dateline of official news releases of the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit reads “CEBU (PHILIPPINES)” starting late yesterday.

A dateline indicates the place where the journalist filed a news story and, usually, the date of filing.

Since December last year, organizers had issued 21 statements datelined "Cebu City". Press Release No. 22 started using the new dateline to appease local executives in Mandaue City who had complained of the "inaccuracy."

Over 1,500 accredited local and foreign journalists are in town to cover the ASEAN Summit. This assures global media exposure for which both Cebu City and Mandaue City are making special efforts to have favorable stories on investment and tourism potentials of their areas.

In an interview, Mandaue Mayor Thadeo Z. Ouano said the CICC was located within his city and that news reports should reflect this.

When the Inquirer pointed out that most of the meetings—including the most important ones—were being held at the Shangri-La Mactan Island Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City, Ouano agreed that dropping the "City" from "Cebu" was more appropriate.

Lapu-Lapu officials did not complain about the previously used dateline.

A few of the 50 meetings slated for the rescheduled Cebu summit are to be held at the CICC.

Reclamation

Ouano and Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña have traded barbs in the past about Osmeña’s original proposal to hold a four-day summit holiday, an idea shot down by his Mandaue counterpart as impractical for business activity.

But their rivalry is most keenly seen in efforts of Cebu City to draw investors to the unoccupied 300-hectare South Reclamation Project, now called South Road Projects and Mandaue City’s own bid to position its 180-hectare New Mandaue Reclamation Project as the “convention center of Asia” by 2020.

Mandaue promoters like to stress that the city’s reclamation project, developed by private construction giant F. F. Cruz, doesn’t have the baggage of a P6.3-billion foreign loan tied to it like the SRP of Cebu City.

A dateline on a story sent out to foreign media outlets uses more known places to describe a less-known site. Following this common practice, the Asian Development Bank, for instance, is "Manila-based" although its headquarters is in Mandaluyong City, while passengers of budget airlines, such as Tiger Airways and Air Asia, buy tickets to and from "Manila" even if they are using the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Pampanga.

For Mandaue officials, however, "Metro Cebu" as a dateline would not work either, saying "there is no agency created for that" like the Metro Manila Development Authority. Also, there is no "Greater Cebu" as in Greater Manila.

Still, Mayor Ouano said Mandaue could not afford to lose the opportunity to be mentioned as a distinct location, considering its bid to promote itself as an alternative destination of tourism and investments.

When the CICC was launched on Dec. 7 last year, in time for the start of Cebu's hosting the ASEAN leaders' summit, Ouano described the occasion as Mandaue's debut as venue of international meetings and exhibitions.

The CICC sits on the 180-hectare piece of reclaimed land. Other projects expected to rise in the area include a boardwalk, restaurant strip, marina and yacht club. The CICC would also host a permanent trade exhibition facility to support the city's export industry that accounted for up to 80 percent of the country's furniture export sales.

Mayor Ouano said the city council was planning to develop a second land reclamation project comprising 295 hectares. It had signed a memorandum of understanding with the company that developed the Hong Kong International Airport, he said. Cebu Daily News

He said the P14-billion project would cover a 50-hectare export processing zone, as well as Mandaue's own international harbor and seaport.

"Mandaue's framework for development (aims at) eliminating the image of Mandaue limited to being just a gateway to Cebu City, but rather as a new growth center of the metropolis," Ouano said.