Metro Manila Development Authority(MMDA) personnel remove on Wednesday the plastic barriers used to create an exclusive ASEAN lane along EDSA for the 31st ASEAN Summit. The ASEAN lane was reserved for VIPs and delegates traveling from Clark International Airport to Manila and Manila to Clark for the 3-day regional meeting.(MNS photo)
MANILA, Nov 16 (Mabuhay) –Hosting the 2017 Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit and Related Meetings, which coincided with the regional bloc’s 50th founding anniversary, was a success considering that no unfortunate incident occurred, Malacañang said on Thursday.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque also apologized to the people who were inconvenienced by the ASEAN-related events and said the hosting proved that the Philippines is capable of organizing international events.
“Congratulations to the rest of the Filipino people. Siyempre po may mga naabala, lalong-lalo na doon sa closure ng EDSA, pasensya na po kayo. Ang naging kapalit naman ay iyong paghanga ng buong daigdig sa kakayahan ng bansang Pilipinas,” he said at a briefing in Malacañang.
There was a collective sigh of relief now that the ASEAN leaders and dialogue partners have left the country, the Palace official noted.
“It was a tremendous success. Of course, now that all the guests are gone, there is a sigh of relief that there was not one untoward incident. All that could have happened was one explosion, even if no one was hurt, for us to have a major disaster in our hands,” he said.
The cooperation of the Filipinos helped avert untoward incidents, said Roque.
“The world community now recognizes not only the fact that the Philippine President is not just a President of the Philippines, a leader of Southeast Asia, but a recognized leader in the international community,” he said.
“They have also given notice that the Philippines is able to competently host a bidding, a meeting of this scale and scope. And the fact that there was no untoward incident proves that the Philippines is safe to visit,” he added. (MNS)