Polished streets, hidden costs: Manila puts on its best face for the Asean Summit

Résumé détaillé

The Philippine capital’s preparations bring anticipation and disruption for local communities

The Philippine capital’s preparations bring anticipation and disruption for local communities

[MANILA] The Philippines is putting on its best face as it prepares to welcome South-east Asia’s leaders – and US President Donald Trump – to Manila for the 49th Asean Summit.

Roads are being spruced up, billboards installed and welcome arches erected around the Philippine International Convention Center, the summit’s main venue.

Along JW Diokno Boulevard in Pasay, one of the key cities hosting activities for the summit, temporary barriers have been transformed into an impromptu open-air gallery.

Reproductions of works by Philippine national artists line the route: Fernando Amorsolo’s luminous rural scenes, Vicente Manansala’s fractured cubist figures, and Arturo Luz’s austere geometric forms.

But behind the earnest preparations lie concerns over the cost of hosting.

Food vendors, for instance, have been ordered to halt operations from the end of October in the run-up to the summit.

Before the art-covered barriers went up, these vendors would set up hawker-style stalls along the stretch, where ride-hailing drivers stopped to rest between fares. This week, the usually bustling food centre has fallen quiet.

A supervisor from the Department of Public Works and Highways, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the barriers also covered informal settlements. A small passage between the barriers remains to let settlers move in and out of their homes.

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