Longest Serving Editor in the World
Sy Yinchow, an 84-year-old Filipino-Chinese journalist living in Manila's
Binondo district, is perhaps the world's longest-serving, living editor-in-chief
of daily newspapers. As of 2003, Sy was still serving the chief editor
of the United Daily News, a leading Chinese-language daily in the Philippines.
He has been an editor-in-chief of Manila-based publications for 58 years
since 1945, surpassing the record of Sir Etienne Dupuch who had served
as the editor-in-chief of the Nassau Daily Tribune in the Bahamas for
only 53 years from 1919 to 1972.
Aside from his colorful journalism career, Sy has written 20 books and
translated over 100 English and 72 French poems into Chinese. He is
an honorary president of the Hong Kong-based World Association of Chinese
Writers and a fellow of the International Writing Programme of the University
of Iowa.
Longest Barbecue in the World
On April 30, 2002, about 50,000 people participated in the "Kalutan
ed Dagupan" festival in Dagupan City (Pangasinan province, Northern
Luzon, Philippines) to help grill and partake of the 1,001-meter long
barbecue, that broke the previous World Record of 613 meter-long barbecue
grilled in Canchia, Peru on November 13, 1999.
The people of the city used hundreds of grills, each measuring 1.2-meter
long, to cook the barbecue. The grills' total measure was about 800
meters long, enough to surpass the Peruvian record. The barbecue consisted
of bangus (milkfish), pork, chicken, vegetables and cold cuts. A video
footage was sent to the Guinness Book of World Records for validation.
(Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Longest Mat in the World
The people of the agricultural town of Basey, Samar own the distinction
of having weaved the world's longest mat, or "banig" in the
local parlance. During the town's Banigan-Kawayan Festival on September
29, 2000, hundreds of people paraded the mat, which extended for more
than a kilometer.
The one-meter wide mat has been weaved for several weeks by groups of
people from the different barangays of Basey. While the mat was not
submitted as an entry to the Guinness Book of World Records, Basey Mayor
Wilfredo Estorninos described the feat as a source of pride for all
Basaynons.
Each year, the town, which has weaving as its prime industry, comes
to life when it celebrates outlandishly the feast of St. Michael, its
patron saint. The highlight of the feast is the Banigan-Kawayan Festival,
where the women of Basey weave a variety of intricately designed mats
from sedge grass locally known as tikog (Fimbristylis milliacea). This
tradition was handed down from many generations. The Church of Basey
was built in 1864.
Longest Bridge in the Philippines
The country's longest bridge is the San Juanico Bridge, a steel structure
connecting the islands of Samar and Leyte. Built in 1973 under the Marcos
administration, the 2.16-kilometer bridge crosses over the picturesque
San Juanico Strait as a part of the Maharlika Highway. Also known as
Marcos Bridge, San Juanico Bridge has 43 spans rising 41 meters above
the sea. Bunton Bridge in Cagayan province is said to be the country's
second longest bridge.
The title of the longest bridge, however, may soon belong to a bridge,
which will be built in the Manila Bay. This cable suspension bridge
will link Metro Manila to the provinces of Bataan and Cavite. It will
be patterned after the Tokyo Bay Aqualine, which connects Kawasaki City
in Kanagawa Prefecture to Kisarazu City in Japan.
Among the longest bridges in the world are the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
in New York, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the East Bridge-Great
Belt Fixed Link in Denmark, the Hoga Kusten in Sweden, and the Tsing
Ma Bridge in Hong Kong.
Longest Traffic Buildup in the Philippines
On the night of May 26, 2003, the northbound and southbound lanes of
the North Luzon Tollway from Bocaue, Bulacan to Balintawak, Quezon City
turned into a parking lot of thousands of vehicles trapped in floods.
Rains induced by tropical storm Chedeng caused the garbage-infested
Malhacan River in Meycauayan to rise above the street level. The traffic
buildup that extended to EDSA left thousands of commuters stranded for
a whole night.
A bus that left Cubao, Quezon City at 4 p.m. of May 26 reached Bocaue,
Bulacan at 2 a.m. of the next day. The usually 15-minute ride from Camachile
to Bocaue turned into a grueling and nerve-wracking 8-hour saga for
drivers and commuters. Thousands of office workers that left Makati
City at 5 p.m. of May 26 were lucky to reach their homes in Bulacan
at 4 a.m. of the next day. Others spent the night under the rain while
catching for a ride along EDSA.
Third Longest Coastline
The Philippines, one of the world's largest archipelagos, also has one
of the longest combined coastlines in the planet. The total length of
the country's coastlines is 36,289 kilometers or almost twice that of
the United States. It is said to be the third country with the longest
combined coastlines, after Canada and Indonesia.
Longest Cave in the Philippines
The 15-kilometer St. Paul Cave in Palawan province is considered as
the longest natural cave in the country. Other notable caves in the
Philippines are the 8.9-kilometer Odloman Cave in Mabinay, Negros Oriental;
and the 7.7-kilometer Odessa Tumbali Cave in Penablanca, Cagayan.
In terms of vertical range, the deepest cave is the Sumaging-Latipan-Lomyang
Crystal Cave in Sagada Mountain Province. Its deepest point is 163 meters
from its mouth.
Longest Underground River in the World
Palawan's St. Paul's underground river is said to be the world's longest
underground river. The navigable part of the river inside the cave of
the 4000-acre St. Paul Subterranean River stretches 8.2 kilometers in
length (5 miles). However, this title is being disputed in Vietnam where
an underground river known as Son Trach River reportedly extends 7 miles
in length. Filipino explorers, however, claimed that once fully measured,
St. Paul's total length would reach 15 kilometers.
Longest River
Cagayan River or Rio Grande de Cagayan, with a total length of 353 kilometers,
is the longest and widest river in the Philippines. It bisects the Cagayan
Valley from north to south. Also considered as the mightiest watercourse,
Cagayan River sources its water from smaller rivers and streams in the
mountain ranges of Sierra Madre, Caraballo, Cordillera, and Balete Pass.
The other notable rivers in Luzon are Chico, Abra, Pampanga, and Bicol.
In the south, the principal rivers are Mindanao (known in its upper
course as the Pulangi) and Agusan.
Meanwhile, the underground river of St. Paul's Natural Park in Palawan
is considered as one of the world's longest subterranean rivers. The
world's longest rivers are the Nile River in Egypt and Amazon River
in South America. Also worth mentioning are the Yangtze River in China,
Mekong River in Vietnam, and Euphrates River in Iraq.
Longest Mountain Range
The longest mountain range in the country is Sierra Madre, which stretches
from Cagayan province in northeastern Luzon to Aurora province in southern
Tagalog.
Longest Underground Railway
The country's first subway remains to be built, but this early, passengers
of MRT3 (Metro Rail Transit) had the chance to know what it is like
to travel underground. The MRT line, which spans from North Avenue in
Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City, passes through an underground
tunnel, measuring hundreds of meters, along EDSA corner Buendia Avenue
in Makati City.
The MRT is a US$565 million project, involving 60 Czech-made trains.
At present, it has 10 stations, which were built at key road intersections
in Metro Manila. The average distance between stations is 1.300 kilometer.
There were plans to build a 100-kilometer railway system from Fort Bonifacio
in Makati City to Clark in Pampanga. Based on the plan, five to seven
kilometers of this railway will be elevated while 10 kilometers will
be laid underground, making it the first true subway in the country.
