COMING "HOME"

Abu Dhabi Intenational Airport (View from the Departure Area)

Being born and raised in the Philippines, I considered Australia my second "home". My family and I migrated here in September 2005 but I have to leave in September 2006 to work with my former boss of 10 years in Saudi Arabia.

On 1st February, I have to leave Saudi Arabia and go back to Australia on my second 3 months break. This is necessary to fulfill the residency requirement to get an Australian citizenship.

I left our Camp at 10:30 pm and arrived in SABTCO station in Al-Khobar at around 12:00 midnight. The bus to Bahrain left at 1:57 AM, 02 February 2008 and arrived 3:30 AM in Bahrain. I was hold at the check-in counter for about 5 minutes to verify my boarding pass to Sydney. Probably, it never occured to them that a Filipino from KSA was going to Australia. The airplane that took me to Abu Dhabi left at 5:50 AM and arrived at around 8:00 AM.

There were full of passengers at the Abu Dhabi International Airport. As usual, most of the attendants manning the duty free shops are Filipinos.

Before boarding the airplane to Sydney, I was again questioned at the documents verification stand. It really surprised the officer that a Filipino was boarding a flight to Sydney. After asking a few questions, I was clear. I was the only Filipino in the flight, excluding the 2 stewardesses.

The almost 13 hours flight from Abu Dhabi to Sydney seemed endless. I watched Maricel Soriano and Aga Mulach's movie " A Love Story" and a film thatI forgot the title. I wanted to watch "Bee Story" but the film was not available in my monitor. I tried to sleep but I guessed I only had 2 straight hours.

I arrived at Sydney airport at 7:12 AM, Sunday, 03 February 2008. My wife's PAL flight from Manila and Melbourne arrived late at 12:08 noon. Philippine Airlines (PAL) lived to its expectation of coming late. (PAL = PALaging Late). My wife and son did not know that I was coming so they were surprised to see me. My brother's wife Emy fetched us from the airport.

My journey was carried out by Etihad, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates.

Umuulan ng araw na iyon. Tila sinasalubong ang aking pagdating.

We WELCOME PAL to SAUDI ARABIA

(Above photo was downloaded from http://www.flickr.com/)

Because of FAA rating, it is possible that new airplanes destined to US might be diverted to the Middle East. We welcome that move!

Nang tanggalin ng PAL ang biyaheng Manila-Riyadh ay naapektuhan nang husto ang mga manggawang Pilipino. Hindi ko alam ang tunay na dahilan ng paghintong ito ng biyahe pero nakalulungkot din dahil napakaraming Pilipino sa Saudi Arabia ang nais sumakay sa PAL.

Sana nga ay mabuksan uli ang rutang Manila-Saudi Arabia.

FAA downgrades Philippine airport

The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has downgraded Philippine airport from Category 1 to Category 2 where it claims that airlines, especially PAL (Philippine AirLine), coming from the Philippines are not safe. It also advises American citizens not to board PAL.

Dahil dito, hayun at papalitan na ni Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza si Acting Assistant Secretary Daniel Dimagiba ng Air Transportation Office (ATO).

Hilong-talilong din si Tourism Secretary Joseph "Ace" Durano dahil malaking kawalan daw ang 578,983 Amerikanong turistang bumisita sa ating bansa noong 2007. Sa bilang na ito, ilan kaya sa mga ito ang walang dugong-Pinoy? Kung halos mga Pinoy rin ang mga dumalaw na ito, hindi na dapat mangamba pa si Durano dahil sasakay at sasakay pa rin ang mga Pinoy sa PAL (kahit na nga lagi itong late = PAL = PALaging Late).

Iniisip ko rin na kaya inilabas ang report na ito ng FAA ay upang maging maganda ang "palabas" sa pagpapalitan ng posisyon sa gobyerno. Naisulat ko na, na bago magpalitan ng puwesto, ay gumagawa ng eksena o kontrobersya ang gobyerno gayong maaga pa lang ay nakalatag at plantsado na ang mga posisyon at termino ng mga kawani ng gobyerno.