Hello from Dubai!

CEBU, Philippines - Dubai: Last Wednesday, we left Cebu for Dubai via Hong Kong on board Cathay Pacific Air CX-920 together with our friends from Cebu’s top travel agencies for a familiarization tour of this fabulous city state that we’ve heard so much about, courtesy of course Cathay Pacific Air that gave us business class accommodations and Meteor Philippines, Inc. who billeted us at the Dhow Palace Hotel in the heart of Dubai.

As we arrived 8:30PM (midnight in Cebu) we haven’t really seen the major sights yet. I didn’t realize that Cathay Pacific’s has done a major upgrade of their Business Class and done away with First Class. It was very impressive. You have your own cubicle and large screen tv for shows, movies, music and even games, which made the almost eight-hour flight very entertaining. I brought my iTouch along, but I didn’t need to use it at all.

I saw three movies on the plane, like Ghost of Girlfriends Past, I Love You Man and The Proposal. Best of all, your seat doesn’t just recline like most Business Class seats. You push a button and it’s a bed. You sleep horizontal! About the food? How’s Braised Lamb Shank with Port wine sound to you? They tasted like food from a first class restaurant, thanks to Cathay Pacific and the Hong Kong Chef’s Association’s award winning National Culinary Team that prepared our dishes!

Indeed, Cathay Pacific’s Business Class is even better than its original first class! First on our list of hotel visits is the fabulous Burj al Arab; the only 7-Star hotel in the world. Next will be the Atlantis Hotel. You’ll read about it in the next column.

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I’m supposed to be writing only about fabulous Dubai in this column, but last Wednesday morning, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III already made his much-awaited announcement at the Club Filipino in Greenhills that he would take on the torch that was passed to him and have made the decision to run for President of this country. So this means, Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas will be his vice-presidential candidate and thus, the political lines are no longer blurred, it is starting to clear.

As expected, Noynoy got a barrage of questions from many sectors what his Presidency would be. He clearly stated that he would have the political will to rid this country of corruption and early on, said that he would step down when his term is over. Noynoy’s handlers are also repeating what we did when his mom, Tita Cory accepted to run for President against Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos, having a “Piso-Piso” campaign contribution, which he vowed he would give to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that he would be transparent about it, by getting the names of the people who would give to his campaign.

Noynoy also pointed out that besides being the Commander-in-Chief, the President is also the “Inspirer-in-Chief”. While I totally agree with this statement, what we’d really like to know is whether Noynoy can inspire the Filipino people. He may have lined up his plans on how to fix this country, starting with fixing our Justice system, our Educational problems all the way on how to fix the problems of Mindanao, but from many Presidents past, we’ve already heard a similar speech and the Philippines still hasn’t solve its problems until today.

So Noynoy has portrayed himself to the people that he is not a wishy-washy kid and has finally thrown the gauntlet before the other Presidentiables. So will we see these oppositionists lining up behind Noynoy or will the opposition still be as hopelessly fragmented like in the past? All eyes are focused on deposed Pres. Joseph “Erap” Estrada, who still has a huge following. Will Erap give way to Noynoy? This we will have to see.

To us in Cebu, the bigger question is, will the Noynoy-Roxas tandem be supported by the Metro Cebu Mayors and Governor Gwen F. Garcia? I reckon, we’ll only know this if and when the Arroyo Administration would finally get down to brass tacks and decide who among their Presidentiables would be able to meet Noynoy head on. Perhaps everyone would be waiting for the SWS surveys on whether who would be on the top before they make this decision.

For sure, Sen. Mar Roxas is now the front-runner in the vice-presidential game, which should send chills to those Presidentiables who might now be eyeing to slide down to the vice-presidential race, which promises that this political race will be one of the most interesting ones in this country. Sen. Mar was very excited about Noynoy’s acceptance. He is pointing out that this campaign will be much about needed reforms to come up with good governance. On reforms, I have a ton of questions to Noynoy especially on topics like charter changes and reforms of our justice system.

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