It’s been raining for days in Cebu, the Philippine beach resort that is hosting the annual meetings later this week of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

But no tropical storm is in the forecast, at least.

The annual meetings on security and trade were postponed last month, ostensibly due to a typhoon, but also after Western governments, including the United States, warned of terrorist plots aimed at disrupting the talks.

On Monday, President Gloria Macapal Arroyo made a surprise visit to the new US$13 million Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) in the central Philippines to check on preparations for the summit.

As delegates and journalist began arriving at the summit’s venue on Tuesday, workers crawled about the building to plug leaks and make last-minute finishing touches.

Soldiers and police held security dry runs and tested their equipment. Limousine drivers practiced whisking heads of state to their hotel under a police escort.

“We were ready then, we are even more ready now,” Marciano Paynor, director-general of the ASEAN Organizing Committee, told a news conference.

Filipinos in the largely Roman Catholic country often offer eggs to nuns at a Cebu monastery to pray for things like passing exams, recovery from illness and for good weather.

“The governor offered two truckloads of eggs to the Carmelite Sisters,” Paynor said.

“Since last week, I only saw the sun for one day,” said Mike Linao, a rental car driver, adding it was unusual for rain during the month of January.

Cebu is the second-most important urban center outside Manila and known for its sun-drenched, white-sand beaches.

It is also the oldest city in the Philippines. Ferdinand Magellan ended his circumnavigation of the globe there in 1521, when he was slain by a local chieftain who objected to Magellan claiming his lands for Spain.

For President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, it is like a second home — she won the region by about a million votes over her rivals in the 2004 presidential election.

Paynor said security has been complicated by an influx of people arriving on Cebu island for an annual religious festival on Jan. 21 called “Sinulog”, the Philippines answer to Mardi Gras.

Tens of thousands will do the traditional Sinulog dance in the streets to the beat of traditional drums, in honor of Cebu’s patron, Nino or the Child Jesus.

As it happens, some of the disruptive weather affecting both sides of the Pacific lately have been attributed to the El Nino weather phenomenon — a Spanish term for the Christ Child.

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