Residents near the PICC have been asked to remain calm, remain indoors and, where possible, remain in another city until the leaders fly home.

PASAY, Philippines (ManilaNews.PH) – With world leaders on their way for the ASEAN Summit, the city that hosts the Philippine International Convention Center has entered what officials call “Phase Three Readiness,” a security posture in which streets are closed, events are canceled, bus lanes are renamed and residents are encouraged to think of their own neighborhood as more of a rumor.

The summit runs for three days at venues across Metro Manila, mainly the PICC, and Malacanang has declared all three days special non-working days across the capital region to ease traffic and keep delegates safe. A rundown of the official traffic advisories and road closures shows roads around the PICC moving from partial to total closure between November 9 and 20, with Buendia Avenue, J.W. Diokno Boulevard, Pedro Bukaneg Street and Vicente Sotto Street among those affected, while designated bus lanes become “ASEAN Lanes” for official convoys.

The added scrutiny follows confirmation that U.S. President Donald Trump will attend, along with nearly every Southeast Asian head of state. Local officials say this has raised the stakes considerably, since Pasay now has to look orderly not only to its neighbors but to a man who has strong opinions about crowd sizes.

A Practical Guide for People Who Still Live Here

To help residents, the Inter-Agency Committee on Summit Atmosphere has released a frequently asked questions sheet. It is excerpted below with the committee’s permission and against the advice of its lawyer.

Can I still go home?

Yes. Workers and residents may pass through restricted zones with a valid ID, subject to security rules. The committee clarifies that “valid” means an ID with your face, your address and an expression suggesting you are not planning anything. “A lot of people are failing the third part,” said committee spokesperson Engr. Dante Villaroman-Cruz. “We understand. Commuting does that to the face. But the foreign security details do not understand. They think everybody on Roxas Boulevard looks like they are about to do something, and honestly, after two hours in a jeepney, they are.”

Why can’t I hold a fun run?

The MMDA has suspended permits for fun runs, motorcades, processions and similar gatherings until after the summit, part of a package that includes a pause on road excavations across Metro Manila lasting until just before Christmas. Villaroman-Cruz said enforcement has been strict. “Last week we stopped 30 seniors doing Zumba in a parking lot. They argued it was not a fun run. We looked at them. It was not fun and it was not running. But it had a speaker and a leader in a visor, so.” The seniors relocated to Paranaque, where they were stopped again, and are now believed to be doing Zumba somewhere in Cavite under an assumed name.

One parish was allowed to proceed with a planned devotion only after organizers reclassified it in writing as “a slow pedestrian queue accompanied by a statue,” a description the committee found acceptable because it also describes most MRT stations.

What is an ASEAN Lane, and can I use it?

No. “Motorists who enter an ASEAN Lane will be fined, towed and asked to explain themselves in all of the bloc’s official working languages,” Villaroman-Cruz said, before being reminded that there is only one official working language. “Then they will explain themselves in English, slowly, while we stare.” He added that the lanes were chosen because they are the only lanes in Metro Manila that already have a tradition of being used by people who believe the rules do not apply to them.

Operation Visual Calm

Parallel to security, the city has launched a beautification drive overseen by the newly formed Summit Visual Calm Task Force. Over three weeks, crews have repainted 14 kilometers of fences in a shade officially called “Summit Beige,” covered vacant lots with tarpaulins printed with photographs of nicer vacant lots, and borrowed 2,000 potted plants from various government lobbies, several of which have asked for them back.

A study of 400 Pasay residents by the Pasay Civic Mood Observatory found that 63 percent did not know their street was closed until they tried to leave it, while 22 percent found out only when they came home and discovered a potted bougainvillea where their car used to be. Barangay halls near the PICC have posted the following list of approved summit conduct:

• Waving at convoys: permitted, one hand only, no flags of any team currently losing.
• Staring at convoys: permitted for a maximum of four seconds per motorcade.
• Selling taho near a checkpoint: permitted if the vendor has been cleared by three agencies and the taho by two.
• Asking a foreign security agent for directions: discouraged, as they also do not know where Atang Dela Rama Street goes.
• Honking: suspended for the duration of the summit, as honking is now classified as a form of political commentary.

The Paperwork Summit

Behind the closed roads, a small army of protocol officers is preparing documents for the summit’s economic track. Undersecretary-designate Ramon Galicia of the Interagency Protocol Secretariat said the stack is now so large that colleagues compared it to the trade standoff in which Europe demanded 47 pages of paperwork over a flood of Brazilian soy. “We would love to have 47 pages,” Galicia said. “We are at 312, and that is just the seating chart. Page 188 is a footnote explaining why one delegation cannot sit facing the bay.”

The MMDA, meanwhile, says it will deploy 2,419 personnel across the Undas break and the summit, a handover that agency planners describe as seamless because the same traffic cones are simply driven from the cemeteries to the PICC. “Same cones, same enforcers, new level of tension,” one field supervisor said. “At Undas, people get angry if they cannot find their lolo. At the summit, people get angry if they cannot find their prime minister.”

For the comedy scene, all of this has been a gift. Jojo Salvacion, who hosts an open mic in Malate, opened his Saturday set by noting the closure of Buendia. “With respect to our foreign guests, Buendia has been closed since I was in grade school,” he said. “The summit just finally made it official. There is a press release now. That’s the only difference.”

Comedian Rhea Mae Tolentino focused on the holiday. “Three special non-working days. Malacanang calls it a security measure. My boss calls it a productivity crisis. My tita calls it the official start of Christmas, and she has already put up the parol, the belen and a second, backup belen.”

Over on Bohiney Magazine, readers spent two days arguing over whether the special non-working days applied to people who were already not working. The thread at bohiney.com was eventually locked by a moderator, who explained that he was on holiday.

Villaroman-Cruz said the task force will formally review, after the delegates leave, whether Pasay should be returned to its residents in full. “We are open to it,” he said. “The roads, the sidewalks, the bus lanes, yes, all of that can go back. But the plants are staying. The plants have never been this happy.”

SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/