Guimaras gov stranded too in Thailand
By Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Carla Gomez
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 15:29:00 11/28/2008
Filed Under: Politics, Unrest and Conflicts and War, Protest
BACOLOD CITY -- Guimaras Governor Felipe Nava and his wife, as well as a sugar mill executive and his wife from Bacolod City, are among more than a hundred Filipinos stranded in Thailand which they were visiting on business trips or as tourists.
Thai protesters have ceased and occupied the Suvarnabhumi International Airport on Tuesday night and blockaded the old Don Muang airport early Thursday.
Nava and his wife arrived in the Thai capital on Monday for a two-day side trip after he attended a conference in Cambodia. They were scheduled to fly back to the Philippines at 2 p.m. Wednesday but flights were canceled on Tuesday after the protesters occupied the airports.
"We don't have a choice. We have to wait for the airports to reopen," Nava told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a telephone interview.
He said they were spending most of their time in their room at the Grand Diamond Suites at the Pratunam District, a commercial and shopping center.
But Nava said they have to check continuously with their airline for updates on their return trip.
"It's almost normal here. They don't have street marches and protests like we did during EDSA [People Power uprising in 1986]. The protesters are concentrated only at the airports and offices of government," said Nava.
He said some tourists who have money opted to go to other tourist sites in the country but most have had to extend hotel bookings at their own expense.
"We're not afraid of the crisis here. We just want to go home," said Nava.
Jose Ma. Villanueva, president of First Farmers Holding Corp. in Talisay City, and his wife Edith, president of the Sugar Industry Foundation Inc., were also among those stranded in Bangkok.
"We're stuck here in Bangkok. We don't know up to when," Villanueva told the Inquirer Thursday night in a telephone interview.
He said that when he and his wife arrived at the Bangkok airport about two hours before it shut down, there had been no signs of protesters.
Villanueva said he had gone to Bangkok to attend an international seminar on co-generation and ethanol production conducted by FO Lichts, a German organization.
There were supposed to be 100 delegates from around the world for the gathering that began Wednesday but some did not make it as the airport was closed, he said.
Villanueva said he and his wife were supposed to return to the Philippines on Saturday but so far there has been no word as to whether the airports would be open by then.
Other tourists were trying to leave Thailand through Kuala Lumpur but he and his wife would just wait it out in Thailand, Villanueva added.
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