What Went Before the Inquirer Lifestyle Series: Fitness.Fashion with Samsung

Inquirer Lifestyle Series: Fitness.Fashion with Samsung fashion show's guest model Enchong Dee before the in the finals of men’s 100-meter butterfly and he was placed eighth in the finals with the time of 56.87 seconds during the 2007 Southeast Asian Games swimming events in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand last Sunday, December 9, 2007. Photos: Lourise Gandionco-David/Multiply.com and courtesy of Bench

On December 9 and 11, 2007, Philippine Senator Pia Cayetano, along with Rina Go-Thorp, Paolo Abrera and Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino General Manager Marco Protacio at the Cayetano residence in Ayala Alabang subdivision, Muntinlupa City along with Bench/ lifestyle + clothing fashion designer Joey Samson, Speedo Philippines designer James Reyes and Louis Claparols and Collezione C2 designer Rhett Eala, for an 15-day affair just in time for the 2007 Southeast Asian Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. Inquirer Lifestyle Series: Fitness.Fashion with Samsung fashion show’s guest model Enchong Dee in the swimming finals of men’s 100-meter butterfly and he was placed eighth in the finals with the time of 56.87 seconds. Two days ago, on December 11, he was in lane 1 in the finals of men’s 200-meter butterfly finals in the swimming events of the 2007 Southeast Asian Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. He placed eighth with the time of 2 minutes, 11.47 seconds and lost to Filipino-American sensation James Walsh in the finals of men’s 200-meter butterfly.

A re-run of the August 21, 1983 assassination of former Philippine senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. aired by GMA Network:

The video conversation starts with the sound of the plane landing and people talking among themselves.

“Everybody remains on board,” one of them says.

Moments later, a single gunshot rings out and women are wailing.

“What happened? What was that?” a woman’s voice asks.

More gunshots. The wailing becomes louder.

Then an order from several men: “Inside, inside, inside!”

“The soldiers… shot Ninoy. He’s dead out there,” a woman cries out.

Burton’s tape records faintly the sound of someone saying, “Eto na (This is it).” Footage shot by a foreign TV crew captures the words by now familiar to Filipinos who lived through the events surrounding the Aquino assassination. “Eto na, eto na! Ako na, ako na! Op! Pusila, pusila (This is it, this is it! Let me, let me! Shoot, shoot)!”

And then, the gunshot.

What is significant about the tape are the reactions of Aquino’s fellow passengers and the conversations Burton had with them.

Burton apparently kept recording as she discussed with fellow foreign journalists what happened.

Some eight minutes into the tape, Burton is heard saying, “It’s very confusing, I mean, I don’t know.” She then answers more questions from someone who sounded like an American.

Man: “They shot Ninoy?”

Woman, presumably Burton: “Yeah.”

Man: “Where?”

Burton: “Right at the bottom of the stairs.”

Man: “When Ninoy was still on it or when…”

Burton: “No, when he got off. I’m sure he’s dead.”

The tape also captures Burton and her fellow passengers after they had disembarked and ran into people waiting to meet the passengers from the China Airlines flight.

Local journalists who covered the airport at the time had been herded by military men to the entrance to the tube where they were to await Aquino. When they learned of the commotion at the tarmac, they interviewed the disembarking passengers to ask them what happened.

One conversation was that of Burton and a Filipino.

Man: “What did you see? Who did it?”

Burton: “Soldiers.”

Man: “How many of them?”

Burton: “I don’t know. I think we’d better wait.”

Man: “Did you recognize him? Aquino?”

Burton: “Yeah.”

Man: “What’s your name?”

Burton: “No, I’m not gonna… this is not the place to talk. We had just seen two assassinations take place right outside our window.”

The tape then records what sounded like Burton comparing notes with fellow foreign correspondents, everyone recalling what they heard and trying to reconstruct the moments when they heard the shorts.

In one portion of the tape, the conversation turns to who killed Aquino, and Burton points out that a Japanese reporter had seen one of the men in khaki, referring to one of Aquino’s escorts, being the gunman.

But a man contradicts her saying, “I did not see a man in khaki uniform shoot Aquino.” To this day, the question who shot Aquino remains subject to debate.

Cayetano and three personalities along with Samson were stayed in the same place to the said event for fifteen days between December 6 to 15, 2007, followed by her father former Philippine senator Rene Cayetano's 73rd birthday on December 12, 2007 and the welcome the new millennium 2008 between December 31, 2007 and January 1, 2008.

On December 31, 1999, The Atop of the Peninsula Manila was the scene of Filipino singer and Asia's songbird Regine Velasquez for her performance of the country's millennial theme Written In The Sand together with 2,000 children, televised in 67 broadcast networks throughout the world to coincide with midnight in Manila for the BBC's millennium special 2000 Today.

The ABS-CBN Millennium Extravaganza started with a history of the Filipino people presentation, simultaneous with other network presentations at the Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig and the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City.

While the VIP crowd inside the inner ring and those near enough to the grandstand contented themselves of the ABS-CBN variety show, majority of the crowd went about their business. Some slept on their mats while others sold El Shaddai items.

Alternately hosted by couples Ricky Davao and Jackie Lou Blanco; John Estrada and Willie Revillame and other stars, the show featured a host of artists who sang a medley of Philippine folk and pop songs.

The artists, which included Joey Ayala and Grace Nono, were accompanied by the Philharmonic Orchestra.

The sleeping El Shaddai members only stirred when President Estrada arrived together with the First Family and Cabinet members for the turn-of-the-century program at 11 p.m. El Shaddai leader Bro. Mike Velarde was also among the guests.

They all rose to their feet when Mr. Pascual led the ''kapit-bisig'' ritual after delivering his speech.

As usual during El Shaddai gatherings, hundreds of thousands of candles were lit during the four-minute countdown after the President's speech and the kapit-bisig rites between Mr. Pascual and his Cabinet.

They linked arms and lighted candles to ''Pilipinas Kong Mahal.'' The VIP crowd in the Quirino Grandstand's inner ring were showered with red, white, blue and silver confetti, fired from the scaffoldings of the ABS-CBN camera crew. 

At zero-hour of Tuesday, January 1, 2008, the celebration was capped by a 20-minute fireworks launched from five barges at the Manila Bay.

The final countdown. Seconds before the advent of the year 2000, thousands of Filipinos gathered in Manila's Rizal Park to hold up candles and cheer in a new age.

Philippine President Joseph Estrada himself led the crowd in bidding goodbye to 1999 and welcoming the new millennium.

PTV-4

1. Wide shot of crowd holding up candles

APTN

2. Wide shot Philippine President Joseph Estrada and family leading countdown to millennium, pull out to crowd

UPSOUND: five, four, three, two, one (cheers) !!!!

The event had been eagerly awaited. And when it came, it literally went with a huge bang.

A shower of confetti heralded the beginning of a new century here.

Fireworks lit up the sky, and the sound of firecrackers reverberated through the capital as the clock struck 12 midnight.

3. Shower of confetti

4. Wide shot of cheering crowd as confetti falls

5. Midshot of cheering crowd

PTV-4

6. Top shot of fireworks display

APTN

7. Medium shot of display on the sky

8. Various of fireworks display

PTV-4

9. Wide shot of Estrada at podium

10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Joseph Estrada, Philippine President

Everyone was in a jubilant mood.

Several street parties were being held simultaneously in all parts of the country, as Estrade conducted proceedings at Rizal Park.

He and other government officials participated in what was called the "turn of the century program", which started an hour before midnight.

Estrada briefly addressed the crowd, expressing somewhat guarded optimism for the coming years.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

'Unity and peace, this is my wish for the new millennium. This may be hard for us but it is not entirely impossible.

- Karen Lourdes Pascual

SUPER CAPTION: Joseph Estrada, Philippines President

The street party was open to all. Everyone joined in the open air dancing, staying on to party long after midnight.

VOX POP: (Tagalog)

'I am very happy because because we are all together here, all praising the Lord. '

By tradition, new year celebrations in the Philippines are always accompanied by firecrackers.

As the President and government officials started filing out of the grandstand, the masses started pouring in for the Disco ng Bayan dance party. Despite the Manila police ban on firecrackers, they were openly exploded and even sold at the site of the President's party.

In public remarks made on May 13, 2008, former Philippine President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino herself announced that blood tests indicated that she was responding positively to the medical treatment.

On June 19, 2008, Typhoon Frank made landfall in eastern Samar in the central Philippines and travelled northwest over the islands. Fengshen was initially forecast to go through Bicol Region but later on shifted its course further westward, eventually going towards the direction of Mindoro Province. However, before even reaching Mindoro it again shifted its direction northward towards the direction of Metro Manila, mainly because of the weakening of the High Pressure area system in the northern part of the Philippines.

On June 29, 2008, Manny Pacquiao won against David Diaz via knockout in the ninth round to win the WBC lightweight title.

UAAP Season 71 opens on July 5, 2008 with an elaborate ceremony held at the Araneta Coliseum.

Finally, after a twelve-month transistion for the project, on July 31, 2008, Cayetano, Go, Abrera and Dee were the guest models of the said fashion show was held at the Rigodon Ballroom of The Peninsula Manila in Makati City, with Lifestyle Editor Thelma Sioson San Juan and Lulu Tan-Gan at the helm who conceived the fashion show and Jackie Aquino who directed the event.