Noy allergic to flowers, skips bridge opening

CERVANTES, Ilocos Sur , Philippines   â€“ Losing his voice yesterday forced President Aquino to cancel at the last minute his scheduled inauguration of the country’s so-called longest bridge here.

The President sent his younger sister Viel Dee to attend the event, delaying the 10 a.m. inauguration by about 40 minutes. 

Manila-based reporters covering Malacañang as well as local media were advised half an hour before that the President could not attend. 

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte explained Aquino was “feeling under the weather.”

“The President will instead be in Manila to take a bit of rest,” Valte’s text message read.

Dee, who read the speech on her brother’s behalf, told the crowd at the opening of the 180-meter Aluling Bridge here that Aquino woke up severely hoarse, which meant he could barely communicate even if he were around.

Sought by reporters for comment and more details, Valte said her boss suffered an allergy attack and was resting in Bahay Pangarap.

“It’s allergy to flowers. He has an adverse reaction when exposed to many flowers at close proximity,” she said.

Valte said Aquino suffered an allergy attack on Tuesday after attending the police service anniversary event at the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame, where many floral decorations were put up.

She said Aquino had a similar allergic reaction during a state visit to Australia last year, when he was forced to miss an official function. 

His allergy is so serious that floral arrangements at the presidential palace are only located in “strategic places” to prevent them from setting off the President’s allergy, according to Valte.  Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda downplayed insinuations that Aquino could have contracted “presidential allergy” in failing to appear at the event.

“There’s no such thing as presidential allergy,” Lacierda said.

“It’s not a big thing to have allergy. I don’t know why this is an issue. Are we making a mountain out of a molehill? The President has allergy... we all have allergies, unfortunately, the pollen allergy of the President acted up last Tuesday,” he said.

Lacierda also said Aquino normally gets colds following an allergic reaction. “It has nothing to do with his smoking habit,” Lacierda said.

Lacierda said the President’s allergy attack possibly became an issue because he had to skip an out of town event.

“So what’s the big deal there? I mean, if I get sick, I would absent myself from briefing. I mean, it happens to the best of us, it happens to the worst of us,” he said.

Local officials led by Ilocos Sur Gov. Ryan Luis Singson lamented that Aquino could not make it to the inauguration of Aluling Bridge.

But the residents of this town did not feel bad if Aquino failed to come. 

“It’s all right, what’s important is that this bridge is finally done,” resident Winston Samiw-eng said in Ilocano.

“We are happy that we now have this bridge we can use in transporting our goods to Mountain Province and Baguio,” said Peter Bacugnay, a farmer.

Manila-based journalists who covered the Aluling bridge inauguration were impressed as they traveled here, passing through a two-hour zigzag drive that stretches about 62 kilometers, cruising along cliffs and narrow mountainsides.

Aluling Bridge connects this town in Ilocos Sur and Tadian, Mountain Province. It has been dubbed as the longest bridge in the country, not in terms of length, but because it took 35 long years before it was finally completed in March this year.

The teams took the Ilocos Sur route via La Union, where they went through the long and winding road locally dubbed as “Bitukang Dragon,” which is more than twice the length of Bicol’s and Baguio City’s “Bitukang Manok” combined.

The steep uphill climb for vehicles only had two types of road signs – sharp curve and U-turn. The crisscross was a combination of left and right curves and an uphill and downhill route, where some roads even had pocket landslides.

The concrete paved road, where there were several waterfalls and hanging bridges, was built during the time of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, a native of Ilocos province, but whose roots are traced to the northern part of this region.

Here was a scenic and picturesque view of the Ilocos and Cordillera mountains, and where the roads at some point were higher than the clouds, beating the cool temperature of Baguio City, the country’s summer capital.

This town is dubbed as the summer capital of Ilocos Sur due to its geographical location and cool climate.

Tourist attractions in the area include Bessang Natural Landmark, Gambang Falls, Yamashita Cave and Municipal Tree Park. –  Aurea Calica, Teddy Molina