Navy closes waters around ASEAN summit venues

By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 04:22pm (Mla time) 01/11/2007

THE waters surrounding the venues of the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Cebu province have been closed to shipping for five days starting Thursday for security purposes, the Philippine Navy said.

From January 11 to 15, the Sitio Boot and Sitio Anacilo Piers in Mactan Island, where the main summit venue is located, was closed and sea vessels were diverted to the Cordova Pier, Navy spokesman Giovanni Bacordo said.

All ships have also been barred from entering 1,000-yard "exclusion zones" fronting the Hilton Mactan Hotel, the Shangri-La Mactan Hotel, and the Plantation bay Resort, he said.

All types of watercrafts were also advised against crossing the Hilutangan Channel off Mactan at nighttime, as earlier announced by the Philippine Coast Guard in a Notice to Mariners (Notam), Bacordo said.

Only the eastern half of the said channel, 2,000 yards from Mactan Island, remains open to sea traffic, he said.

From 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, ships will be barred from using the south entrance of the Mactan-Cebu Channels, fronting the Malacañang of the South, Bacordo said.

"All unregistered motor bancas [outrigger canotes] and watercraft plying the waters along Mactan and Hilutangan Channels will be apprehended by authorities," he said.

Reports said First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo is expected to host a dinner for the spouses of visiting ASEAN heads of state on Saturday evening.

Bacordo also said the Navy would also guard against fluvial protests by left-wing militants.

A wire report Thursday said Navy gunboats stopped a planned fluvial protest by preventing protesters from leaving nearby Talisay City for Cebu.

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