For the past days, our country, Philippines, had been in the global spotlight.

It
was played host to one of the world's most important gatherings, the APEC
Economic Leaders' Meeting. I am sure that all of the Filipinos are aware of that
event. But surely, I can say that not all of us knew about the real reason and
purpose of this so called event and what is it all about.
The APEC that stands for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is a regional
economic forum for twenty-one Pacific Rim member economies that promotes free
trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. It was established in 1989. The main
reason and aim behind Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's establishment is the
desire to have a forum that caters to the enhancement of economic conditions of
states. This would encompass the facilitation of economic growth, promotion of
cooperation among states, liberalization of trade, and creation of opportunities for
investments in the Asia-Pacific community.
An annual APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting is accompanied by the heads of
government of all APEC constituents apart from Taiwan. The venue of the gathering
rotates every year amidst the member economies. For this year's APEC Economic
Leaders' Meeting, the host country was the Philippines. It was held last 18th to 19th
of November of the current year. It was the 27th annual gathering of APEC Leaders.
And it was the second time that the Philippines hosted APEC Summit, the first one
happened in 1996.
To be honest, I really don't know what will happen if the APEC Summit was
hosted by your own country. I mean, I am aware that different leaders of different
countries that are member of APEC are going to attend this summit. And because of
that event, our government prepared so much for that. They declared the whole
week of summit as holiday, (which is a good and bad news for students because
there are no classes and no classes means no money, which is the bad news), they
closed roads that was used by the delegates when they arrived and left to ensure
their safety. But this closing of roads resulted in traffic disruptions in the metro. Most
motorists and commuters complained of the traffic schemes adjustments, which
forced them to walk to their destination. Several airlines canceled their flights to
make way for the arrival and departures of the APEC participants. Philippine Airlines
said it lost an estimated P870 million, while Cebu Pacific lost around P400 million.
The Philippines reportedly allotted P10 billion to stage the week-long APEC
activities. But among all of what happened, Ambassador Marciano Paynor Jr.,
director general of the APEC National Organizing Council, said the expenses in
hosting the event was an investment. He added that the traffic and inconvenience
the summit caused is "a little sacrifice compared to the benefits that we will gain
out of our membership from APEC."And I am certain that, that is the question that a
lot of us want to ask, what will the Philippines gain from hosting the APEC Economic
Leaders' Meeting?

With the help of the modern technology and other references, I gathered some
data about the effect in the Philippines after hosting the 1996 APEC Summit. It's
been 19 years since the first time Philippines hosted APEC. Based on the data of
World Bank, the Philippine economy is thrice larger now compared to the first time it
hosted APEC in 1996. From Philippines' gross domestic product or GDP of $82.85
billion in 1996, it expanded to $284.60 billion in 2014. I guessed it isn't that bad
after all. And for this years APEC Summit, there are still good opportunities that
come to our country from hosting this event. One example of that is, last Friday,
November 20th; Japan announced that it is lending the Philippines 93.46 billion
pesos for a 36.7 kilometer railway connecting Tutuban, Manila and Malolos, Bulacan.
And the Japanese Embassy says the Tutuban-Malolos railway aims to ease serious
traffic congestion.
Although we cant still say that it will give us a good result in our economy, I am
still hoping that this will be the start of a new beginning for our country to have a
prosperous economy. And that will happen through our Gods grace.