Asean fever

Seems like we’re getting pretty good at hosting major international events. In the recent past, we’ve had the Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in 2005, the Asian Development Bank Annual Meeting in 2012 (we are again hosting its annual meeting next year in May) and of course the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit and ministerial meetings held throughout 2015.

We’re currently hosting 22 heads of state and other leaders plus their delegations attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit, which starts this evening with a gala dinner followed by a leaders’ retreat. The next two days are crammed with meetings, summits between ASEAN and its partners, as well as the East Asia Summit, during which some clarity and progress will hopefully be made on problem areas in the region like North Korea and the South China Sea/East China Sea/West Philippine Sea.

Behind – or alongside – these high-level substantive discussions is our role as host, and here Filipino hospitality, creativity and artistry shine through. At ministerial and sectoral meetings throughout the past year of our chairmanship, we have given our ASEAN neighbors and other guests a taste of our culture and arts and a glimpse into the Filipino heart and soul.

The Cultural Center of the Philippines, where the summit’s opening ceremony will be held tomorrow morning, has been transformed into a showcase of Filipino artistry and craftsmanship. (I got a sneak peek the other day when I was there for a meeting.) At the lobby, a conical bamboo installation (by Mio Infante, who is charged with designing all the areas at the CCP to be used for the summit) with the ASEAN logo is the perfect backdrop for the formal arrival honors. One-of-a-kind chairs made from salvaged wood by Clifford Espinosa populate the media area off the main lobby. The spouses’ area at the Little Theater lobby has a photo exhibit articulating the “power of flow” of bodies of water from all over ASEAN.

As the guests approach the CCP, 300 performers on the front lawn, the roof and the Liwasang ASEAN will greet them with dances reflecting the tri-culture of Mindanao – Muslim, lumad and lowland Christian.

To open the summit is a brief program (directed by CCP artistic director Chris Millado) celebrating the dynamism of youth in ASEAN, featuring children’s choirs and two neo-Filipino dances. The finale, Sama Sama, is a rousing multi-media hip-hop celebration of youthful energy. This should set a high note for the leaders and delegates to go into their full schedule of meetings the rest of the day.

For the closing ceremony on Tuesday evening, the focus on youth continues, this time extolling the youth as our future. The program of music and dance ends on a very exciting note, as the chairmanship of ASEAN is turned over to Singapore, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise that director Ariel Yonzon has cooked up.

So, despite the road closures and other inconveniences attendant to this ASEAN Summit, we can be justifiably proud that once again, the Pinoy has done it.