Air shows are a huge tourist drawer!

We wrote about the 15th Philippine International Balloon Festival in Clark and in just a single day, we had a lot to see with balloonists from all over the world showing off their beautiful and picturesque balloons. Then there was the balloon-bursting competition (the burst the ordinary small balloons that you buy for your kids, not the hot air kind) where light aircraft competed by hitting the balloons with their propellers. I must have taken hundreds of photos, including those of my friends from the Cebu Aero Flying Club led by Andrew Co and Rep. Alvin Sandoval, who flew their plane from Cebu.

Later in the afternoon, we watched in awe those men in their motorized parachutes called parasailing, and before nightfall, a few balloons took to the sky and when they were lighted, they glowed so beautifully. Kudos to my good friend, Capt. Joy Roa, who has been doing this huge crowd-drawer for the aviation industry for many years, which has become Pampanga’s great tourism come-on! Indeed, like in the US and Europe, the aviation industry, through its air shows, is a huge tourism attraction.

In the evening, my good friends Andrew Co and Alvin Sandoval and wife Judy were given a special treat at Aling Lucing’s famous sisig by our friends, Jerry Tayag, Carmen Tayag McTavish and her sister Dorin. She brought us to this place, as it is the birthplace of the famous Kapampangan dish sisig, which most Filipino restaurants all over the country offer. But the difference is that, world-famous Chef Anthony Bourdain ate there and gave his thumbs-up for sisig! No doubt Kapampangan food is the best!

But I couldn’t finish the four-day long festival, as I had to go to Manila and visit my daughter and then fly back to Cebu in time for Valentine’s Day. But let me salute the lags of people like Capt. Joy Roa for their great herculean task of bringing in those international balloonists annually. This annual event has become a tourist destination all on its own.

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If you’ve been watching CNN or BCC in the past two weeks, they seem to have focused their concentrated attacks on Toyota’s problem of sudden acceleration of many cars across its model range. Toyota has been saying that the problem has been isolated on two problem areas, either a floor mat that disturbs the gas pedal or the pedal itself. Toyota has already ordered a recall of millions of its cars in the US, with apologies from the Toyota CEO himself!

While I submit that Toyota is reeling from its technical problems, international media outlets have apparently gone to town to magnify this problem to nauseating proportions. It is as if Toyota has done a grave sin that the other automakers never made. Truth to tell, almost every car manufacturer has gone into such technical problems, but most car companies (except a few) always fix the problems to the satisfaction of the consumer.

Now it is Honda’s turn to recall some 400,000 cars for potential airbag problems. I just hope that BBC or CNN wouldn’t give Honda the proverbial one, two and three that they have been giving Toyota for the past two weeks. It seems that these giant international media outlets are using their media power to destroy the reputation of Toyota, which makes us suspect that they must be doing this in order to promote their own moribund car industry. After all, selling cars makes the economy of a country strong.

I’m glad that the problem of Toyota and Honda hasn’t affected the local market. My wife drives a nine-year-old Toyota Altis and we’re satisfied with it. Sure it went through its maintenance schedules, but we always end up satisfied with Toyota’s maintenance facilities. The same goes for Honda, where I experienced a cracked windshield in my Honda Civic and it would have been easy for Honda to blame that crack to normal wear and tear. But they looked into my car thoroughly and replaced the windshield because it was still under warranty, making me one very satisfied customer!

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With all the political posters suddenly sprouting like wild mushrooms, one can easily tell that the presidential race is already on. But one poster that we never expected to see was that of Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson. But if you looked closely, you won’t read any statement that says, “Vote for Ping Lacson!” Rather you will read, “Wanted Panfilo Lacson, Criminal Case No. 10-272905-06” and “Double Murder Case.”

That a senator is now on the run is something unheard of in the old days. I fully concur with fellow columnist Federico Pascual who wrote in his column Postscript last Tuesday about Sen. Gringo Honasan, saying, “It was gross of Sen. Gringo Honasan to advise publicly his mistah, fugitive Sen. Ping Lacson, to resort to deception and disguise and use his military expertise in evading arrest on double murder charges.” This is the fellow that Mayor Tomas Osmeña honored as an “Adopted Cebuano.” Now he’s all shame!

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