Balloon burst

“ALL SET for 2015 Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Clark.”

Screamed the slug of a press release from the Clark Development Corp. late Monday afternoon, with the story reading thus:

CLARK FREEPORT- Officials of the Clark Development Corporation announced that talks are ongoing for the restaging of the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta for 2015 inside this freeport.

Tourism and Promotions Department Manager Noemi Garcia said that consultations with the Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta Foundation, Inc. (PIHABFFI) for a grander balloon fiesta are underway, with the 2013 event being used as a benchmark.

The 2013 Hot Air Balloon Fiesta is considered the biggest and most successful sports-tourism event since its introduction in 1994, with the participation of the Breitling Jet Team as the highlight. 

The PIHABFFI, headed by Capt Joy Roa, has been the (sic) forefront of hosting Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Clark every February, drawing tens of thousands of local and foreign visitors.

This year’s hot air balloon festival on (sic) April which will be held in Lubao, Pampanga was initiated by the Regional Office of the Department of Tourism…

What gives here?

For starters, a refresher of history: the hot air balloon festival was a brainchild of the DOT birthed in 1994, at the time of Secretary Mina Gabor. Looks like it has gone full circle with the DOT at its helm again.

Troubling now that just as the Lubao fest is starting to gain some media mileage, comes this CDC press release bursting its balloon, idiom intended and most appropriate there.

This is most evident in this not-so-subliminal reduction to non-event of the Lubao balloon fest, to wit:

…Aside from the kaleidoscope display from the hot dirigibles, other events during the “Weekend Of Everything That Flies” include sky diving, hang gliding, ultra-light planes, aerobatic precision flying, light airplane rally, helicopter flight demo, remote controlled aeromodellers as well as kite flying, among others…

Beat that Lubao, CDC may as well have said there.

And the litany of Roa’s big-time and blue chip sponsors: 

Over the years, the event has been supported by PIHABFFI, Clark International 

Airport Corporation (CIAC), Philippine Air Force (PAF), Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), United Parcel Service (UPS) and DOT…

Compared to Lubao’s seemingly lonely duo of DOT’s Ronnie Tiotuico and the newly established Pilipinas International Balloon Festival Inc. of four-wheeler Noel Castro.

Indeed, a snooty denigration of this year’s fest in that CDC press release.

Teka, teka. I see some half-truths in that italicized take on the sponsors above.

One, CIAC has severed ties with the hot air balloon fest organizers since 2011. Here’s a direct quote from CIAC President-CEO Victor Jose “Chichos” Luciano that found space in the local media prior to that year’s festival, to wit:

“This year, 2011, the CIAC has not joined the Hot Air Balloon (Festival). We believe that the project is not in focus with the priorities of CIAC which are to accelerate the development of the airport and woo more airlines to fly to Clark.

For 2010, when CIAC became a partner in the project, through my own efforts, singlehandedly I raised P5.5 million from sponsors which very well covered the P3.5 million payment to Joy Roa.” 

There. And how much has the CDC been paying Roa all these years? Payment that has been questioned far and wide for being unliquidated and unaudited? Ombudsman, anyone?

Two, the Philippine Air Force contingent in Clark, if we remember right, also cut ties with Roa’s balloon fest, resulting to its holding last year at the Omni Aviation area and not at its usual PAF locale.  

Indeed, what gives here?

That press release is a practical rehash of what the CDC issued in late November 2013, to wit:

CLARK FREEPORT -- An official of the Clark Development Corporation (CDC) has confirmed reports that the 18th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Festival (PIHABF) slated in 2014 has been cancelled.

CDC Tourism Office Manager Noemi Garcia said the event will resume in 2015 with more well-prepared activities.

Garcia, at the same time, denied reports that Captain Joy Roa will no longer handle the annual festival in Clark, which is witnessed by thousands of spectators.

Last month, Roa asked officials of CDC, including President Arthur P. Tugade to suspend the event to prepare for it longer.

"He (Roa) has set a standard and he wants to surpass the success of the 2013 hot air balloon festival," Garcia said.

A website released an article stating that CDC cancelled the event because of lack of preparations.

Sabotage, anyone?

Back to that slug of “All set for 2015 Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Clark.” For a

“grander balloon fiesta”  at that, according to the CDC.

How will this stand with the given reason for “disallowing” this year’s balloon fest to take place at Clark, constraining the DOT to move it to Lubao?

Media reports carried: “The reason of the location transfer is due to traffic situation in aviation where some ten international and domestic airlines are now operating and flying in and out of Clark from various destinations. According to a source, a hot air balloon event should be staged at a 25-km no-fly zone.”

So, is CDC certain of much lesser flights at the Clark airport in 2015 warranting a comeback of the hot air balloon fest?

Or is this all a case of the Filipino saying ’pag ayaw may dahilan, ‘pag gusto may paraan?

Yeah, I smell more than enough putrid hot air here to launch Roa’s balloon into orbit.