“LET US rise from the last vestiges of our colonial past…How can an
American pilot who died in a plane crash in Panama in 1919 supersede the
greatness of President Diosdado Macapagal, the father of land reform, the
emancipator of the peasants from the bondage of the soil?
“Downgrading the name Diosdado Macapagal (at the Clark airport) is against the
guidelines of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP)
pursuant to Republic Act 10086 that strictly forbids the renaming of public
places already named after presidents to people of lesser importance.
“You spoke of international acceptance, of the popularity of Clark over DMIA, using the analogy of Bangkok better known than Suvarnabhumi, of Hongkong preferred over Chek Lap Kok, of the practice in Asia of naming airports after their location rather than people, as in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
“You spoke of the naming of airports after people as practiced more in the West, as in JFK and La Guardia in New York, as in Ronald Reagan in Washington D.C.
“I could not care less however way they name their airports, that is their prerogative. But naming our airport is also our prerogative, following our own laws and guidelines.”
The printed word cannot capture even but a quarter of the eloquence, even just half of the passion with which Alexander Cauguiran laid out the historical and legal bases that demolished – before the assembly of Pampanga mayors and Clark International Airport Corp. President-CEO Victor Jose Luciano last Friday – all arguments for the renaming of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) to Clark International Airport (CIA).
Aye, were the prosecution team in the impeachment trial as thorough, as logical, and as impassioned as Cauguiran in their presentation, the chief justice (Renato Corona) would have been readily convicted even before the first article of impeachment was rested.
No one – Luciano, included – was unmoved by Cauguiran’s rhetorics.
No one – except Luciano maybe – was unwon by Cauguiran’s logic.
Thunderous was the ovation that followed the conclusion of his speech.
“You spoke of international acceptance, of the popularity of Clark over DMIA, using the analogy of Bangkok better known than Suvarnabhumi, of Hongkong preferred over Chek Lap Kok, of the practice in Asia of naming airports after their location rather than people, as in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
“You spoke of the naming of airports after people as practiced more in the West, as in JFK and La Guardia in New York, as in Ronald Reagan in Washington D.C.
“I could not care less however way they name their airports, that is their prerogative. But naming our airport is also our prerogative, following our own laws and guidelines.”
The printed word cannot capture even but a quarter of the eloquence, even just half of the passion with which Alexander Cauguiran laid out the historical and legal bases that demolished – before the assembly of Pampanga mayors and Clark International Airport Corp. President-CEO Victor Jose Luciano last Friday – all arguments for the renaming of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) to Clark International Airport (CIA).
Aye, were the prosecution team in the impeachment trial as thorough, as logical, and as impassioned as Cauguiran in their presentation, the chief justice (Renato Corona) would have been readily convicted even before the first article of impeachment was rested.
No one – Luciano, included – was unmoved by Cauguiran’s rhetorics.
No one – except Luciano maybe – was unwon by Cauguiran’s logic.
Thunderous was the ovation that followed the conclusion of his speech.
SO, WE wrote here in March 2012 at the height of
the contentious name game played on the airport at the Clark Freeport Zone.
So, it has come to pass. This Oct. 10, the committee on transportation
of the House of Representatives approved two bills seeking to rename the Clark
International Airport to Diosdado Macapagal International Airport.
HB
2274 was filed by Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales
while HB 8289 by House Majority Leader
and Camarines Sur 1st District Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr.,
Sagip Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, Pampanga 1st District Rep.
Carmelo “Jonjon” Lazatin II, and Bohol 3rd District Rep. Arthur Yap.
As certain as that truism
on victory having many fathers, not a few will now lay claim to siring DMIA, if
only for political stock.
But no one, absolutely no
one, can take away any, much less the full measure, of that triumph from Alexander
Cauguiran.
That it came virtually at
the eve of his final leave from the CIAC, the renaming of the airport to DMIA
made a fitting valediction, aye, a victorious vindication of his dedication to
the cause of Clark transformation all the way from the American bastion of
imperialism that he assiduously fought during his activist past, vigorously
pursued with his Move Clark Now advocacy in the post-Pinatubo reconstruction
era, zealously lived up in his CIAC presidency that, finally, impacted in the
national consciousness as much the imperative as the full potential of Clark,
er, DMIA, as premier international gateway of the Philippines.
Given that fortuitous as
they were, the misfortunes of NAIA – constricted space, air and land traffic
woes, the Xiamen airline accident, closures at the height of storms, etc. –
only highlighted the premium of the DMIA.
Given Cauguiran, it was
much more than sheer serendipity that effected the increase in flights from six
to 276, and still counting, weekly; destinations: from one to 22 domestic, six
to nine international, also still counting for both. Something where all past
CIAC presidents – combined – epically failed. Where they merely, if eloquently,
spoke, Cauguiran walked his talk.
Truly, no mere rhetorics –
of which he is a master – but his masterful handling of the CIAC that really
made this airport worthy of the illustrious name Diosdado Macapagal.
What greater conclusion of
a life’s work than this!
But then again – given
Cauguiran – that makes but the greater motivation to the even higher cause –
that of coming home to his people.
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