Government holds quake drill for big ADB meeting

Some 500 participants from different government agencies held an  earthquake drill along with other security simulation exercises at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) on Tuesday in preparation for the Asian Development Bank annual meeting to be held in Manila next month.

To be held from May 2 to 5, the ADB meeting is expected to draw some 4,000 banking and finance executives from 67 countries, including officials and organizers of the regional bank.

President Benigno Aquino III, who will keynote the big meeting, met with police officials the other day and urged them to target a “zero incident” security scenario.

The last time the country hosted the big banker’s event was nine years ago at the ADB headquarters in Pasig City, and in 1986 at the PICC. This year, the event is jointly organized by the Philippines’ Department of Finance and the ADB.

“It’s been quite a while since we last hosted an annual meeting of ADB. At the same time, we have to showcase the progress we’ve made  since the last time,” said Finance Undersecretary Rosalia de Leon.

“We also have this new tourism program, so we’re really making sure that it’s really more fun in the Philippines to host the annual meeting,” De Leon also said, echoing the tourism department’s new tag line.

Officials from various security and emergency agencies, the departments of defense, tourism, health and finance attended yesterday’s Critical Incident Management Simulation Exercise (CIMSE) ahead of the May event to test readiness to various emergency scenarios.

Participants took part in the quake drill while police briefed security personnel on what to do in case of terror threats and other security related emergencies.

Superintendent Ricardo Marquez from the Philippine National Police Directorate for Operations said some 3,000 police officers from Metro Manila and nearby provinces will be deployed to provide security for delegates—from the venue to their hotels, and to recreation areas they may visit.

“We had a briefing with the President (President Aquino) yesterday and he said we should aim for zero incident.  Even minor crimes, there shouldn’t be any incident (during the event),” he said in an interview.

During the meeting, ADB officials are expected to talk about the bank’s plans and programs for the coming years, De Leon said.

Government is also hoping to showcase the country’s tourism sites during the event. Tarra Quismundo