By all intents and purposes, San Miguel Corporation’s airport dreams are beginning to be realized. But it must be stressed, “beginning” is the operative word in that sentence. The real work is about to begin.
The Department of Transportation and Communication has just spoken: the new Manila International Airport will be built in Sangley Point in Cavite City.
This announcement came on the heels of the recently-released report of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) which recommended that the new airport be built in the area, something the Urban Roamer has touched upon in a recent post. And it seems the DOTC is intent on following that particular recommendation.
When it comes to Manila’s airport…well, there’s nothing much to say about it, is there? Nevertheless, let me state that the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is not as bad as others paint it to be. If anything, those problems people are citing about NAIA is with mostly with regards to Terminal 1. Terminal 3, while it has some problems, is a significant improvement compared to Terminal 1.
But amenities and facilities of one airport terminal is just part of the problem. In recent years, air traffic going to and from the airport has risen to such levels that NAIA itself is finding it difficult to address. In addition, the infrastructure around the airport is not enough to meet present and future needs of the airport, not to mention the traffic situation around the airport area. It is clear from these problems being related here that something needs to be done soon. To be fair, there is something being about it. Or should I say, some things?
It was September 29, 1890, which happened to be the feast of St. Michael and the rest of the Archangels, when a fellow named Enrique Barretto y Ycaza opened up a brewery in the Manila suburb named after the aforementioned saint. With a royal grant from Spain, Enrique decided to name the brewery after that suburb where he has lived and worked. So began the history of Fabrica Cerveza de San Miguel, the brewery which would become the San Miguel Corporation we would know today.
The document which bore that royal grant had the old seal of Manila insigned with a crown above it. Seeing the significance of this seal, Enrique adopted it as the logo for his brewery, which is still seen today as the current corporate logo of the company. The seal is known as the escudo, which means shield; incidentally, it was also the name for once Spain’s old currency before the peseta and eventually the euro.