Fontana out as summit venue

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    CLARK FREEPORT – Organizers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting to be hosted by the Philippines later this year have abandoned plans to include the Fontana Leisure Park here as one of the venues.

    Ronnie Tiotuico, director of the Department of Tourism in Central Luzon, said the National Organizing Committee (NOC) for the ASEAN meet, which is expected to be attended by incoming US President Donald Trump, is considering instead Subic Freeport which had hosted a meet of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) attended by heads of states in 1996.

    In February last year, Fontana constructed a new convention center to host one of the ministerial meetings of APEC.

    Guesting at the Talk Widus forum of the Pampanga Press Club at the Widus Hotel and Casino here, Tiotuico said Clark had initially been chosen as one of the venues for ministerial meetings during the ASEAN meet which will also coincide with the 50th anniversary of the organization.

    ASEAN members include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

    “Because of what happened in Fontana, Subic is now being prepared for one of the ministerial meetings,” said Tiotuico, adding that the NOC would be able to finally decide on this by next month.

    Fontana, operated by Chinese national Jack Lam, was raided by government agents recently for illegal online gambling and was ordered shut down last Dec. 2 by the state-owned Clark Development Corp. Pres. Duterte had ordered the arrest of Lam, who had fled to Macau, on charges of bribery and economic sabotage.

    Tiotuico said the venue must be able to accommodate as many as 4,000 participants and guests for the ASEAN meet.

    “We have such a convention center in Subic, but the problem there is lack of (hotel) rooms unlike here at Clark and surrounding areas,” he noted.

    Tiotuico said that the guests could be shuttled between Clark, where there are enough hotels, and Subic where the meetings could be held. The distance between the two freeports is now less than an hour via the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.

    He said the NOC is now bidding out contracts for transport services for the ASEAN participants.

    “There are those who might want to tour Central Luzon, so we are identifying areas we can recommend as tourism destinations,” he noted.

    Earlier, Budget Sec. Benjamin Diokno said that aside from the heads of ASEAN member states, the organizing committee plans to invite the chiefs of US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and China for the 50th anniversary of ASEAN.

    The Office of President had sought a P15 billion capital spending for the ASEAN Summit 2017 hosting.

    Diokno said “a big chunk” of the P15-billion budget will be used for car rentals for the dignitaries.

    Other than car rentals, Diokno told Philippine senators that most of the earmarked budget will be “spent domestically. In hotels, restaurants, local travel.”

    “We might even expand the number of visitors. So there is the president of the US, [prime minister of] Canada, and others,” Diokno said.

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