By Danny O. Calleja
LEGAZPI CITY, Jan. 15 (PNA)—The National Organizing Council (NOC) of the Philippine-hosted 2015 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has assigned two of its 29 meetings to this premier Bicol metropolis recently adjudged as one of the country’s three “Most Livable Cities.”
Latest communication received here by City Mayor Noel Rosal from Ambassador Marciano Paynor Jr., the NOC’s director-general, said the two events the city will be hosting are the Meeting/Workshop on Rebuilding Resilient Infrastructure to be held on July 23-24 and the Senior Disaster Management Officials Forum on Sept. 14-15.
Both gatherings will be held at the Oriental Hotel, a plush resort-hotel located on a hillside fronting Mt. Mayon from a distance of some 15 kilometers and overlooking the scenic cityscape and the picturesque Albay Gulf.
The other 27 meetings are distributed among venues also known as tourist favorites such as Manila, Makati; Cebu, Boracay; Tagaytay; Clark, Pampanga; Bagac, Bataan; and Iloilo.
The 2015 APEC leaders’ meeting, said to be the biggest and most high profile annual gathering of world leaders from 21 member-economies in the Pacific Rim, will be hosted by President Benigno S. Aquino III.
As one of the venues, this city has shown deep optimism that the APEC meetings would be a good opportunity to flaunt its popular tourist attractions, not only Mt. Mayon but also its newly-developed scenic boulevard along Albay Gulf, the longest outside Metro Manila and the famous ATV (all-terrain vehicle) adventure course over lava hills along the foot of the world’ most perfect cone-shaped volcano, among others.
“We will make it sure that the visitors will be accorded with all the amenities, fun and comfort that a ‘livable city’ and ‘city of fun and adventure’ like ours could offer.” Rosal told the Philippine News Agency here on Thursday.
This premier Bicol urban locality, known in the travel industry world as the “City of Fun and Adventure” shadowed by the beauty of the majestic Mt. Mayon, was named one of the three winners in the Livable Cities Design Challenge in grand ceremonies held at the Philippine International Convention Center, Pasay City last October.
Legazpi placed second to Iloilo in the ranking followed by Cebu which placed third.
The Livable City Challenge, sponsored by the United States Assistance for International Development was organized by the National Competitive Commission, APEC 2015 NOC, World Wildlife Fund, Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Reconstruction and Asia Society and Urban Land Institute.
In the search, each competing city was required to come up with strategic vision and plan for a resilient and livable city and in developing an APEC meeting venue.
Rosal said that with the help of the city chapter of the United Architects of the Philippines headed by its president Maridel Baldano, the city government came up with a strategic plan for a highly resilient and livable city featuring a safe and green environment aimed sustaining good public health, which impressed the search judges.
The plan themed “Healthy City, Happy City” presents far-reaching innovations that inspire a more dynamic development of the city into a very safe and healthy locality for its people and visitors, as well.
In choosing this city as one of the venues of APEC meetings, the NOC evaluated its available facilities and infrastructure, including back-up sites, the stability of power and water services, cleanliness, peace and order, disaster preparedness plans, medical services, tourist services and the strength of the local government’s links with the national government and the private sector.
Another key criterion is the locality’s plans for carrying out its APEC programs well beyond the summit, particularly when it comes to infrastructure taking into account that the government is looking to invest in infrastructure for the chosen sites not only for the event itself but as part of the country’s long-term planning.
The government is building permanent infrastructure here and other APEC sites and the benefit is not the meeting but beyond the meeting so that the place is built for business and good for repeat visitors, rather than for one-time tourists, Rosal said.
Part of this infrastructure network is good roads, airports, telecommunications networks and private facilities, including hotels and restaurants.
For now, the national government has earmarked an amount of Php140 million for the ongoing widening from two to four lanes of Yawa Bridge, a key link between the city and the first district of Albay where Misibis Bay Island Resort sits and would be used as among the official residences of the APEC delegates.
The Aquino administration had also earmarked an amount of Php2 billion for the city’s urban drainage system featuring a series of water pumping stations designed to put an end to the perennial flooding problem confronting the city’s downtown area during heavy downpours.
“At this point and time, we are already prepared to showcase our culture, heritage, art and creativity to APEC delegates and guests,” Rosal said.
The city is expecting a total of around 1,000 official delegates to the two meetings and some 5,000 support staff, observers and media reporters.
“We are bent on making the visit memorable for each one of them as we believe that it’s not just about coming in, staying in a world-class hotel but having a great experience out of the taste of our cuisine, a look at our art and even listening to our music,” Rosal said.
Digging on the records of past APEC meetings abroad, Rosal said every host country did a good job of projecting their culture and “we’ve worked on it for our hosting.”
Local preparations actually started mid-last year as the Informal Senior Officials Meeting (ISOM)–the first APEC meeting — was scheduled to be held here last Dec. 8-9 but moved to Manila due to typhoon “Ruby” that threatened the city on the same days. (PNA)