CEBU - More than 100 singers and dancers set to perform at yesterday night's gala Asian dinner for leaders from across the region almost didn't make it after coming down with food poisoning.

Catered meals were blamed after the performers were downed by the food at a dress rehearsal on Saturday, officials said.

A health department doctor and other officials told AFP that 103 people, including two former beauty queens, went to hospital complaining of severe stomach pain, dizziness and vomiting.

"They were diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis caused by bad food served by an outside caterer," said Philippine Press Undersecretary Roberto Capco.

Most were sent home after treatment but six spent the night in hospital before being discharged on Sunday afternoon, just in time for the show to go on, he said.

"The doctors gave all of them clearance to perform tonight except for one model," he said. Leaders from Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam will attend Sunday night's dinner.

The official entertainment program includes the local philharmonic orchestra, tribal performances and a "grand parade of waiters".

China, Japan and South Korea have held their first summit together in two years, finding common ground on North Korea and on mending their own fractured relations.

In an unusual joint statement, the three appeared to have shored up a relationship that was strained by complaints over the last Japanese government's attitude to the country's notorious World War II past.

But new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made better relations a priority since taking office in September, and his talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun were hailed by all sides.

"The three leaders expressed satisfaction with the recent development of relations," the statement said Sunday, pledging a meeting of their senior foreign affairs officials in China later this year.

"As important countries in Asia, China, Japan and South Korea shoulder great responsibilities in maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in Asia."

The three took particular aim at North Korea, which angered even its lone major ally China in October when it tested a nuclear weapon for the first time despite massive international pressure to give up its nuclear program.

China, Japan and South Korea said they had "emphasized the importance of addressing the issue of humanitarian concerns of the international community" about the North, formally known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.*AFP

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