(This article was originally published in my sports page column Self-Propelled
in the May 29 to June 4, 2011 issue of the Baguio Chronicle
--- a weekly newspaper based in Baguio City, Philippines.)
Welcome to the very first Self-Propelled.
Before everything else, I want to thank my team mates in the Baguio Chronicle under the very able leadership of my Editor-in-Chief, Atty. Marissa J. Madrid-Dacayanan, for giving me the opportunity to try my hand on column-writing. As we Filipinos love to say, there’s no harm in trying anyway.
And as the title suggests, I am a bicycle commuter. Well, most of the time.
Through this column, please let me express how I feel and what I think about certain things from the viewpoint of a cyclist.
-o0o-
My first ever bicycle ride happened 475 years after unverifiable claims for the invention of bicycle-like machines came out by way of a sketch which was attributed to Gian Giacomo Caprotti, a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci. It was not until 1790 when the first contraption resembling a bicycle was constructed by Comte Mede de Sivrac of France. The year I had my first bicycle ride saw the ascendance of 28-year old sprint specialist Johannes Adrianus Janssen as the first Dutch cyclist to win the back-breaking 4,684-kilometer Tour de France.
For reasons I do not know to this day, the Tour of Luzon was not held that year after a back-to-back yellow jersey finishes by Cornelio Padilla, Jr. The “tour” was first held in 1955 from Manila to Vigan, Ilocos Sur and was won by Antonio Arizala. I was not yet born then. The “tour” eventually became known in its present-day commercial name Padyak Pinoy.
It was also in that year when the 5th Dimension’s “Up, Up and Away” won the GRAMMY’s Record-of-the-Year and the Song-of-the-Year awards while the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band run away with the Album-of-the-Year belt.
That same year, the world was shocked by the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King and the late US President John F. Kennedy’s brother Bobby. It was also the year when the Boston Celtics won their 10th NBA title. The Detroit Tigers won the World Series and Joe Frazier was the heavyweight champion of the world.
But not after 70,000 North Vietnamese troops launched the famous Tet Offensive, taking the battle from the jungles to the cities. The offensive carried on for weeks and was seen as a major turning point for the overwhelmed American’s attitude towards the war.
That year, Apollo 7 blasted off to an 11-day journey which orbited the Earth 163 times. Apollo 8 followed that same year, marking the start of the first US mission to orbit the Moon. That same year, legendary British rock group Led Zeppelin of the classic Stairway To Heaven staged its first live performance while the Boeing 747 made its maiden flight.
After Dr. Christian Barnard performed the first successful heart transplant, the Beatles launched their own recording label Apple Records and recorded "Hey Jude" as the first single on the label. The Beatles were in Manila two years earlier.
That year, Hawii Five-0 debuted to become the longest-running crime show in television history until Law & Order overtakes it in 2003. Celebrities born in that year are Wil Smith and Celine Dion.
In the Philippines, President Marcos was on his third year of what would become his 21 years of iron-fisted rule.
That same year, the 7.3 magnitude Casiguran (Quezon) Earthquake was recorded as the most destructive earthquake to hit Philippines prior to the 1990 earthquake that devastated Baguio and left hundreds of casualties. Manila was the hardest hit by the Casiguran Earthquake with 268 casualties, 260 of them from the collapse of the 6-storey Ruby Tower in the Chinatown district of Binondo while more than 200 others were injured.
Also that same year, Muslim youths undergoing military training in Corregidor were massacred by the Philippine Army while escaping from their secret military training camp. The incident became known as the Jabidah Massacre. As a result, Muslims organized groups to fight for the complete separation of Mindanao and Sulu Islands from the Philippine Republic. Nur Misuari revived his group under the new name Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and created its military arm, the Bangsa Moro Army while Datu Udtong Matalam established the Muslim Independence Movement.Almost simultaneously, Jose Maria Sison founded the Communist Party of the Philippines. He is now in self-exile in The Netherlands living a very comfortable life in stark contrast to his starving and demoralized comrades back home.
In sports, the Philippine Basketball Team came home with a highly-impressive finish at the Mexico City Olympic Games with a 3-6 win-loss record and placed 13th overall. The Philippine Team’s powerhouse included Robert Jaworski, Freddie Webb (alternate), Jimmy Mariano, Rogelio Melencio, Danny Florencio, Alberto “Big Boy” Reynoso, Ed Ocampo, Orly Bauzon, and Adriano “Jun” Papa, Jr. The legendary “The Big Difference” Carlos ‘Caloy’ Loyzaga was the head coach.*
