There was peace and order during President Bush visit

We wish to commend Philippine National Police Chief Director Ge-neral Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and his men for the way they insured that there would be peace and order during the brief visit of US President George W. Bush. If anything it proved that as President Bush was well aware that terrorism is an international problem but that the Philippines could cope with the problem. Not only was there peace and order in places where President Bush would visit or pass, but peace and order all over the country. That was due to the efficiency of the Philippine National Police.

We can be sure that international and local terrorists had plans to utilize the Bush visit to hit the United States and its foremost ally in Asia, the Philippines. But the PNP proved that it can very well cope with the terrorist problem.

Undoubtedly, the visit of President Bush was a great success in proving that the Philippine-US military alliance is a "rock of stability in the Pacific." It is an alliance that was best tested during World War II in the battle of Bataan. There Filipino and American forces fought and died like brothers.

We would like to add our personal observations about the Bush visit in general. We cannot help wondering why neither President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo or President George W. Bush mentioned the fact that Bush’s home state, Texas, was once called Nuevas Filipinas. Texas was originally a part of Mexico and so many Filipino seamen jumped ship and stayed in Acapulco that the Mexicans had plans to resettle them in what was then an unsettled part of Mexico, which later came to be known as Texas, which is a Caddo Indian word meaning friends or allies. Tejas was then the name of a group of allied Indian tribes that lived in northeast Texas at the time when the European settlers arrived. The vast region of Texas was hardly explored until 450 years ago. It was not till 1836 that Texas won its independence from Mexico. In 1845, it opted to become part of the United States and had the distinction of being the largest state until Alaska became the 50th state in 1959.

Texas has its equivalent of our chabacano. Its jargon is known as Texican, a mixture of English and Spanish. The most beautiful goodbye that we know is Texican. When they say farewell, they say, Hasta la bye-bye. Larry Henares has made this popular locally because that is the way he always ends his radio and television programs. We are well-served with the history of Texas because we went to college in the Southwest – the University of Arizona in Tucson. We have nothing but beautiful memories of the American Southwest.