ASEAN Summit delegates to get a glimpse of Cebu’s best

CEBU, Philippines - The delegates of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit meetings will have a glimpse of Cebu’s history and culture through dance performances during the gala dinner on Thursday, April 6.

The ministerial meetings in Cebu officially started yesterday with less fanfare compared to 2007 when the country hosted the 12th summit.

Attended by finance ministers and central bank executives of the ten-member ASEAN countries, yesterday’s event started with a debate on the topic, “Is Asia bound to follow the advanced economies new mediocre?”

The event was initiated by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas – Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (BSP-OMFIF).

On Thursday, the Cebu provincial government together with the Mandaue City government will host a dinner for at least 200 ASEAN ministers and other senior officials at the Capitol Social Hall at 7 p.m., according to Mary Grace Paulino, Protocol and Events Officer.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana will also grace the dinner.

“We will show them a glimpse of Cebu’s performances,” Paulino said.

However, Paulino said they can no longer showcase the Sinulog Festival during the dinner because it is already scheduled for another event on April 7.

She explained that the ASEAN 2017 National Organizing Council (NOC) is trying to avoid redundancy of themes during the series of meetings.

She assured though that the dinner would still be entertaining and worthwhile.

There will also be a cultural presentation of selected festivals from different local government units of the Province of Cebu.

 The renowned Dancesport Team Cebu City (DTCC) has also been tapped to perform during the dinner.

In 2015, the provincial government also hosted a welcome dinner for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) delegates.

This is the third time the Philippines is hosting the Asean Summit. The country first hosted it in 1987 then in 2007 with Cebu chosen one of the venues.

It was observed that Cebu’s preparations this year for ASEAN was not as extravagant as before, in which hundreds of lampposts were installed along the streets of the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu.

There were neither traffic dry-run nor protest unlike the past hosting of ASEAN and APEC.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said that this year’s chairmanship, the country will highlight ASEAN as a model of regionalism and a global player with the interest of the people at its core.

The ASEAN Summit 2017 coincides with the 10-nation bloc's 50th anniversary.

ASEAN is a regional organization comprising 10 Southeast Asian states which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic integration among  its members.

Since its formation on August 8, 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, the organization's membership has expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. — Kristine B. Quintas and Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon (FREEMAN)