Philippines Safe for Asian Summits: police

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CEBU, Philippines, Jan 10, 2007 (AFP) - The Philippine resort of Cebu is safe for this week's Asian summits, the nation's police chief said Wednesday as ministers began arriving amid continuing terrorism warnings. "At this time I would say that there are no more terrorist threats. Cebu is peaceful," Director-General Oscar Calderon told reporters after inspecting representatives of his 6,000-member summit security task force. "Cebu is safe for the ASEAN summit," he said, ahead of the arrival of the leaders and ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and dialogue partners Australia, China, India, South Korea, and New Zealand. The Philippines called off the meetings at the last minute in December, citing a coming typhoon even though weather officials said the storm should not be a disruption. Several other nations had issued terrorism warnings instead. Australia, Britain and Canada still have travel warnings for Cebu, citing possible terrorist attacks. After initial ministerial meetings, the summits proper will be held from Saturday to Monday. Calderon said that "at this time," the Philippines had not arrested or deported anyone to ensure the security of the summits. Aside from the police task force, Calderon said military units are deployed on the outskirts of Cebu, the Philippines' second city. The Philippine armed forces chief of staff, General Hermogenes Esperon, also visited the summit site on Wednesday and he is "happy with the preparations made," said military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Bartolome Bacarro. The spokesman said military operations were also being undertaken outside of Cebu that were designed to keep "threat groups on the run to prevent them from staging any terror activity here in Cebu." Meanwhile, the police chief renewed a government warning that street protesters will not be allowed around the summit sites. "We should offer the best of Cebu to our visitors and let us not wreck these summits," Calderon said. He said there were certain "agitators" who he said "would really like these summits not to be successful and they would foment trouble. We are prepared for that." Small numbers of leftist and anti-globalisation groups have announced plans to stage demonstrations in Cebu during the summits. cgm-str/mc/th