ACTRESS Vivian Velez has called on President Rodrigo Duterte and the members of Congress to sign a petition which restores the original name of Manila International Airport.
“President Rodrigo Roa Duterte: #BringBackMIA – Please sign the petition,” said Velez on Facebook. It was posted by the group “Kasama ng Pangulo sa Pagbabago National Chapter” on change.org, a website for petitions.
The country’s premier gateway is currently named Ninoy Aquino International Airport in honor of the opposition leader who was assassinated on Aug. 21, 1983.
Parts of the petition read:
“We ask our Honorable President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and our government, through Congress and the responsible executive agencies, to restore the country’s gateway to its original name, Manila International Airport (MIA);
“When the Manila airport was turned over by the Americans to the Philippine government, in 1948. After the completion of the present runways in 1961, it was named the Manila International Airport, and carried that name ever since;
“But in 1987, during the term of Cory Aquino, MIA was renamed after her late husband;
“This was done well in advance of the 10-year prescription period for naming public sites after dead personalities.
The height of a self-serving motive to uplift one’s image for political perpetuity, brainwashing and indoctrination.
It is still way too early to award Ninoy such an honor. There are at least three malfeasances for which he must be held to account;
“One, he authored the fake account of the so-called ‘Jabidah massacre’ in 1967 and sabotaged our country’s claim to territory;
“Two, he was complicit in the reestablishment of the local communist party and guerrilla army under Maoist control in 1968-69;
“Three, he was inexplicably absent during the bombing of the LP rally in Plaza Miranda in 1971 despite his being the most popular and front-runner candidate and the secretary general of the Liberal Party;
“At the same time, it is also important to dissociate our international gateway from the scandalous performance in recent years that earned for NAIA a reputation as the world’s worst airport;
“People abroad can only speculate that it is no coincidence that this bad performance occurred during the administration of Ninoy’s namesake son, highlighted by the Laglag Bala scam which victimized more than a thousand of Filipinos and foreigners alike;
“Let us look both to the past and the future. The name NAIA is also confusing and does not lead to a recognition and identity of the country it represents,” the petition said.