Many of you from the regions outside Metro Manila will recall fondly how, in your first airplane ride to the nation’s capital, you disembarked at the Manila Domestic terminal, often called the “Domestic” which was designated as NAIA terminal 4. Having recently passed through this area along the Airport Road in Pasay City, I found that this one-storey structure is now gone.

That said, there are stories many of us remember about this building that helped us process the exhilarating experience of flight, Philippine civil aviation, and the first-time arrival at the nation’s capital.

I do not know much about the terminal’s history beyond my own experience of the place in the 1970s and 1980s. I would like to use this column to encourage readers to comment about this terminal and its surroundings on the official social media pages of the Manila Bulletin. This can be our own contribution to recording social and cultural histories, which are part of our lived experiences as Filipinos.

In this column I would like to share my own experience.

Back in my day, getting to this terminal from anywhere in the Metro would require a taxi ride or a jeepney ride from the corner of the Tripa de Gallina Bridge that marks the entry into the Baclaran district of Paranaque. The same bridge would house the jeepney terminal for passengers travelling a circular route to the airport terminals, which include the domestic terminal, the old Manila International Airport (MIA) rebuilt as NAIA Terminal 2 in 1998, the adjacent Philippine Village Hotel and Nayong Pilipino Park, and the Baltao subdivision gate and the “new MIA,” which we now call NAIA terminal 1. Those coming from Makati would ride the then California Bus Lines that would turn into the Tramo Road from EDSA. This bus would then follow the same jeepney route around the various airport terminals. I believe buses going to NAIA still follow the same route today.

In the late 1970s and 1980s, this building was our lone domestic passenger terminal. It was a simple one-storey structure that had the usual check-in counters, no air conditioning, and limited amenities for passengers waiting for their flights. Only the pre-departure area was air-conditioned. Some travelers coming in early would wait for their flights at the Maranaw restaurant near the taxi line. Across the terminal was the Ding Velayo Commercial building that had extensive covered tennis courts. Beside it was the old Miramar Chinese restaurant, and further on was the Airport Golf Driving Range.

Fronting these establishments was the then PADC building, which became the Philippine Airlines terminal for large Airbus flights, along with the Pacific Airways hangar and the PATS School of Aeronautics.

Such memories of a former airport are not mere vignettes for a Sunday read. I believe they ought to make way for discussing the state of our regional airports, not just the major gateways, and how they must evolve.

Airports around the world grow into fantastic structures; they have become monuments to a nation’s collective aspirations or a showcase of culture to the world. They indulge our physical and visual appetites and facilitate our travels, soothing away some of the stress that comes with flying unfamiliar skies and landing in new, exotic lands that may be different from our own. We look forward to our airports being designed, built, and operated in the same way.