After all the excitement and the multi-million peso projects still being rushed here, the latest plan is that events for the 50th anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to be attended this November by world leaders, including US Pres. Donald Trump, will be held in Manila, no longer in this Freeport.
“It would seem that Clark will just be the landing site for the aircraft of world leaders. From Clark, they would probably be fl own, perhaps by helicopter, to the Manila venue,” said Ronnie Tiotuico, Central Luzon regional director of the Department of Tourism (DOT).
He declined to identify the venue in Manila.
Tiotuico, in a forum with the Capampangans in Media, Inc. (CAMI) here, said the heads of states are expected to bring along some 200 each as members of their advance parties and that while the world leaders themselves would not stay at Clark, he still expected some of their delegates to spend some time here.
He said Pres. Duterte had wanted Clark International Airport as landing site for the aircraft of the heads of states as a better option as more commercial flights would be disrupted if they landed at the Ninoy Aquino Intenational Airport (NAIA).
“It is practice to declare a no-fly zone policy around airports used in arrivals and departures of heads of states,” Tiotuico noted.
The Clark airport hosts several international and domestic flights, but not as many as at NAIA.
It was initially reported that no less than 10 heads of states, including Trump, Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin, Chinese Pres. Xi Jin Ping, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, among others, would stay in this Freeport for events related to the 50th anniversary of the ASEAN.
This prompted the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) to allocate P500 million for the construction of two-story villas at a 9.5-hectare site here for the ASEAN delegates.
Some P137 million worth of road widening and upgrading projects were also undertaken all with deadlines this July in time for the November events.
Filinvest, which operates Mimosa resorts here, demolished over 200 villas in preparation for the ASEAN events, and even proceeded to construct two presidential villas. The management of Fontana resorts here was also reported to have made extensive upgrading of its facilities here for ASEAN.
It was initially estimated that some 4,000 foreign guests would arrive for the ASEAN anniversary.
