Watching history unfold!

The Philippine STAR headline last Thursday, "RP, China ties in a golden age," gave us fresh hope for better ties with China, thanks to the state visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao, which would hopefully mean that we would no longer see any naval "excursions" in the Spratly Islands, a very common flashpoint between the People’s Republic of China and the Philippines. Because we have no real Navy to speak of, the Philippines is the underdog in these cat-and-mouse incidents.

Indeed, our military alliance with the United States of America had always assured us that those Chinese military "excursions" would never develop into a serious military conflict. But with President Hu Jintao addressing a joint session of Congress, I would like to believe that China is truly serious in improving close ties with its Filipino neighbors.

In addition to this, some US$1.6 billion in loans and investments were signed by the two countries, which no doubt boost the economic cooperation between us and our "sleeping giant" neighbor. The US$10-million gas and oil exploration off the coast of Palawan seems very promising; after all, China needs to find new oil sources as it is now one of the biggest users of fossil fuel and we are still a non-oil producing nation. Hopefully, this joint exploration venture would bear some fruit... or oil!

Meanwhile, while President Hu Jintao is making his historic state visit here, history is also being made in Nanjing, China with the official visit of Lien Chan, leader of Taiwan’s opposition party, the Kuomintang, whose headquarters were located in Nanjing from 1920 until 1947 when the Kuomintang moved to Formosa across the Taiwan Straits, when the Communist Party of Mao Zedong took power all over mainland China. This would never have happened if the Kuomintang was still in power, but now that it’s the minority power, it’s finding ways to get back to power, even if it means the reunification of China. Of course, we realize that there are still many hot issues to resolve before this becomes a reality.

If and when this happens, then we can finally have peace and stability in this once volatile region. We hope that the Filipino-Chinese associations which we know continue to support the Kuomintang and the others who support the People’s Republic of China (PROC) can lend their influence in hastening the reunification of China because this is also in the national interest of the Filipinos. When this becomes a reality, you can say that this has truly become the golden age of the Philippines and China.

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Last Wednesday afternoon, I got a call from Sen. Richard "Dick" Gordon asking me why I wasn’t in Manila for the unveiling of the 45-foot bronze statue of Chieftain Lapu-Lapu at the Agrifina Circle in Luneta. Well, I had to tell Sen. Gordon that I wasn’t invited! Indeed, this was an issue which we’ve written so passionately about; after all, I have always fought for the recognition of Lapu-Lapu in the nation’s consciousness because too many so-called "nationalists" preached that Lapu-Lapu was not a Filipino because there was no Philippines in those times.

Hence, this myopic mentality has only furthered the rift between the people of Cebu and Imperial Manila. This rift worsened when then Tourism Secretary Gordon’s efforts to put the Lapu-Lapu statue was derailed when the National Historical Institute (NHI) wanted it out of the sacred ground that is the Luneta. This really caused an uproar in Cebu, which was condemned by the Cebu City council last year.

At this point, you can say that all’s well that ends well. Last Wednesday’s formal unveiling was graced by Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia and Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and of course, Sen. Gordon, who was the principal speaker during the unveiling ceremonies. After all, Gordon fought a good fight to have his "Sentinel of Freedom" put on permanent status at the Luneta. So you can say, Lapu-Lapu’s place in our history is now sealed!

Call it timely that I will be with my family in Manila today as "domestic tourists" because I haven’t really brought my children to Manila to see the old Manila that I used to know, and so the first thing we’re headed for is a photo op at the Lapu-Lapu Statue. Incidentally, of the three local dailies in Cebu, only The Freeman had a huge colored front-page photo of the Lapu-Lapu statue being unveiled, while the other dailies featured on their front pages the reenactment of the Kadaugan sa Mactan right on the shores of Bo. Mactan where history was made 484 years ago.

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Talking about history, aviation history was made last Thursday night and thanks to satellite technology, the whole world witnessed the take-off and landing of the newest Airbus A-380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft, bigger than the current world standard, the venerable Boeing 747 Jumbo jet, which was also an aviation trailblazer in its own right. With some 150 A-380s on order by many airlines, the big question is: will we ever see this super jumbo plane fly over Philippine skies? Not on your life!

A plane this size needs runways that can handle its extra weight and bulk. So far, the only runway that the A-380 can land on is Clark Airfield, which can easily take on the C-5 Galaxy, America’s heavy lift cargo plane which is even bigger than the A-380. Unfortunately, the Clark International Airport doesn’t have the terminal facilities to handle 800 deplaning passengers from one plane. The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) may have the terminal facilities, but its runway cannot take the A-380, nor can the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA).

In fairness to the Philippines, not all airports in key American or European cities can handle this plane, unless they strengthen their runways and build a new terminal annex that could handle a plane this size. So in the meantime, the Airbus A380 will fly to limited, long-haul routes. But this should be food for thought for the planners of the national government that if one airport in this country can handle this huge aircraft, then the airlines using this plane like Singapore Airlines will seriously consider the Philippines one of the few destinations which A-380 can land as a tourist destination.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talk show, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, at 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.