The Metro Manila Development Authority has deployed its elite group Task Force Phantom to Aklan to provide security to delegates of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation who are meeting in Boracay Island.
The summit, which will see 1,500 delegates from the 21 APEC economies taking part, will be staged from May 10 to 21 and May 23 to 24.
Foreign Affairs spokesman Assistant Secretary Charles Jose said the APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting and delegates will continue the discussions that began last December at the Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting in Manila.
Chairman Francis Tolentino said his men, composed of 18 traffic constables and highway patrol group personnel, are tasked to assist the local government units in the province to manage traffic and the crowd while the rest will be providing motorcycle escort security for the delegates.
The MMDA chief also sent personnel from the agency’s Metrobase Operation and Road Emergency Group to help in monitoring traffic situation and respond to emergency cases.
In November, the MMDA formed and activated “Phantom” to implement traffic and security management measures for the five-day visit of Pope Francis, Feast of the Black Nazarene and APEC.
According to a July 22, 2014 memorandum from Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. to organizers of the APEC 2015 meetings, the areas chosen for the APEC meetings include Metro Manila, the resort island of Boracay, Iloilo City, Tagaytay City, Cebu City, Bagac town in Bataan, Angeles City and Legazpi City.
The meetings will be the second high-profile global event that the country will be hosting after the World Economic Forum on East Asia last May where the Aquino administration trumpeted the Philippines as the “next Asian miracle.”