“Metro Manila is the only place in the country that can host 10,000 people. No other city in the Philippines can,” explained Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Laura del Rosario, who also chairs the APEC 2015 Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM).
“APEC is the Wedding of the Century” and everybody wants to attend, she added. Classes and work in most government offices, as well as most commercial flights to and from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), have been suspended f r o m November 17 to 20 for top- level APEC meetings.
In 1996, the Philippines hosted the conference and it was held in Subic. APEC consists of 21 member economies that touch the Pacific Ocean. They are: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong-China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States, and Vietnam.
The APEC meetings include the SOM on November 13-14, the ministers’ meetings on November 16-17, and the leaders’ summit on November 18-19. Previous to the November meetings are topical APEC meetings on health, disaster risk reduction, finance, micro/small/medium enterprises, etc. held in various places around the country including in Cebu, Boracay, and Bohol. (V. Uy, Interaksyon)