CLARK FREEPORT – The Clark Development Corp. on Friday, March 15, gave due recognition to the brains behind the hot air balloon festival that has become the very icon of this freeport.
In ceremonies commemorating the 30th anniversary of the very first Philippine Balloon Fiesta held in January 1994, CDC president and CEO Atty. Agnes VST Devanadera, CDC chair Atty. Edgardo Pamintuan, and Department of Tourism Region 3 director Dr. Richard Daenos awarded plaques of recognition to the pioneering individuals and groups led by former Tourism Secretary Mina T. Gabor.
It was Gabor that conceived the hot air balloon fiesta with the express objective of priming Clark as engine of economic development in the immediate post-Pinatubo times and develop hot air ballooning as an aviation sport in the country.
“In his belief that tourism could best stir interest in the then Pinatubo-devastated Clark, President [Fidel] Ramos asked me to come up with a project to make it happen,” Gabor said in her message at the ceremonies held at the Clark Museum.
Among the brain trust tapped by Gabor were DOT-3 director Ronnie Tiotuico, Korean businessman and hot-air balloon pilot Sung Kee Paik, and ballooning enthusiast British Airways GM John Emery.
Providing the “vital support without whom the balloon fest would not have taken off,” Gabor said, were the chase crews who followed the balloons to where they landed and brought them back to base.
The Angeles City 4-Wheelers Club served as the chase crews from the initial staging of the hot air balloon fest and through its succeeding editions.
Also given recognition were the communication groups, hotels, and travel agencies that helped in “making the first hot air balloon fiesta a resounding success” as well as the then-Clark Air Base Command of the Philippine Air Force for providing security and keeping order during the event.
Then-Angeles City Mayor Ed Pamintuan and then-Mabalacat Mayor Marino Morales also received plaques of recognition for their “utmost support to the first hot air balloon fiesta.”
As part of the commemoration, a retrospective exhibit on the first balloon fiesta was put up at the Clark Museum and a night glow of tethered balloons was held at the Clark Parade Grounds, the very site from where the balloons first took off. Punto News Team
