Tulabut: Lubao and More

TWO things come to mind now whenever I hear or read the word Lubao.

First is the Lubao International Hot Air Balloon Festival on March 26-29, 2015 or in about two weeks from now.

This will be the second hot air ballooning event in the country.

Organizers led by the Department of Tourism (DOT), the Lubao municipal government, the Angeles City Four Wheelers Club would like this one to be the biggest in Southeast Asia.

And at the looks of it, that is not a far-fetched idea.

Why? The Pinedas – Governor Lilia Pineda and equally lovely daughter Lubao Mayor Mylyn Pineda-Cayabyab – are all out for it. And it is public knowledge in Pampanga and probably the whole country that the Pinedas have the "Midas Touch."

There's also a growing number of balloonists in the Lubao event. About 46 balloons are reported to be participating. Fifteen of them have special or unique shapes.

The organizers for the Clark counterpart, am sure, would not mind.

From one press release the CDC has issued, it quoted Atty. Art Tugade, its president as saying hot air

Now that's a very commendable gesture of Atty. Tugade there as that is seen as a support to the efforts of the Pinedas.

As a bit of a background, it was actually the DOT that started the hot air balloon event in Clark in 1994 (at the Parade Grounds, not airport complex). It was then Secretary Mina Gabor and Regional Director Ronnie Tiotuico who put it all up together in order to bring back Clark to life during those days. They were backed up then by Noel Castro and the AC4WD, CDC and CIAC. Joy Roa, who was one of the balloonists then, took over the helm three years later after the event was fully established by DOT, CDC and CIAC.

The Lubao event promises to be exciting and very entertaining for the whole family.

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The other story about Lubao involves its favorite daughter, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

A frontpage news story in this paper on March 10, 2015 states that British lawyer Amal Clooney (wife of actor George Clooney) will be taking the case for GMA before United Nation’s Human Rights Commission, particularly the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

That same story was also carried by major news networks in the Philippines and elsewhere like ANC, Inquirer, Rappler, GMA, ABS-CBN, etc.

A report filed by Ian Ocampo Flora (with tagline of Sunnex, the paper’s news exchange) states that "Incumbent Pampanga second district Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's case will soon get the attention of the United Nations (UN), as lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney has filed a case against the Philippine government for the (alleged) continuing detention of the former President."

It further said: "Alamuddin urged the UN Human Rights Council to treat the case under 'urgent action procedure' instead of being considered a regular case."

Clooney wants "the UN to persuade the Philippine government to release Arroyo, who has been under hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City for a plunder case in connection with the alleged misuse of P366 million in intelligence funds of the state lottery firm during her presidency."

The former President is confined at the VMMC as she claimed to be suffering from cervical spondylosis, a degenerative disease of the bones and cartilage of the neck.

With the former PGMA’s birthday coming up soon, a lot of people are praying for the quick resolution of her case and that she recovers soon from her illness.

They think that she has suffered enough.

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PARKING SLOTS FOR PWDs. MarQuee Mall in Angeles City is showing the way how to treat well Persons With Disabilities by providing just enough parking lots for them. The designated places are not just plenty but they are roomy as well for wheelchairs to be maneuvered well from vehicles that carry them.

What is so commendable about Marquees PWD parking slots is that there are plenty of them in almost all ingress/egress points of the mall. There are also some for Senior Citizens.

I hope that SM Clark follows suit by adding more spaces at its main entrance. It only has very few lots reserved for PWDs in that area (only two slots across the French Baker) since its opening from several years ago (was that 2004?).

The mall has since expanded (going Mabalacat side) and yet the PWD parking lots at its entrance have not increased. The stalls, on the other hand, at the front side were also widened last year.

I can tell that SM Clark officials are doing something about this.

Mall manager Ana Datu says they have added new ones at the back (near one coffee shop). But a lot of PWDs and their guardians are saying that there has to be more at the front part. PWDs (and their guardians) should have priority parking in all of its entry and exit points.

In some states in the US that I’ve been to, a long line of parking lots very near to the mall entry/exit points are reserved for PWDs.

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PNP at PBA ALL STAR. I just could not let this one pass. But have the PNP cops assigned at the Puerto Princesa (Palawan) Arena to become welcome cheerleaders for PBA players in the league’s All Stars last Sunday.

The TV coverage showed uniformed PNP personnel doing high fives as PBA superstars made their way to the court from the dugout. Were these cops supposed to serve rah rah boys? They should have been given pom-poms then.

I’d like to think that the reason they were there is to help protect players and audience by keeping eyes at how the crowd was doing. The organizers of the event could have done better by putting in the cops’ place some local cheerleading squads that should have helped made the players’ entry more festive and appropriate.

Better yet, they could have placed some PWDs on wheelchairs to greet the players to give a chance to see their fave players.

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