GMA at rites renaming Clark airport after Dad

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — The poor boy who pastured carabaos and tilled rice farms in the small town of Lubao in this province years ago will be honored on the 91st commemoration of his birth today when the airport abandoned by the US Air Force here is named Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA).

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will lead this morning the rites renaming the 2,500-hectare Clark airport after her father, the late President Macapagal who, at one time, disappointed Americans in this former US military base by changing Philippine Independence commemoration from July 4, which is American Independence Day, to June 12 to mark the proclamation by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo of the country’s independence in Kawit, Cavite in 1898.

"The renaming will be a fitting tribute to the statesman and renowned father of Philippine land reform," said Clark Development Corp. (CDC) President and chief executive officer Emmanuel Angeles.

Angeles said that the renaming "is a tribute to the life, times, and legacy of President Macapagal who has made every Capampangan proud and whose ideals to bring about improved quality of life has been carried on by the Arroyo administration."

Angeles was reported to have sent 12 pieces of eggs as offering to St. Claire at the Carmelites convent in Angeles City as a petition for good weather during the President’s visit here today. Strong but brief thunderstorms have been occurring almost daily in the Clark areas for weeks now.

Angeles said that the airport here can handle the growing commercial flights in Clark, with its fixed-based operations terminal now in place to cope with the requirements of general aviation. — Ding Cervantes