The millennium watch was kept all over the world, from a sprinkle of South Pacific islands to the skyscrapers of the Americas, across the pyramids, the Parthenon and the temples of Angkor Wat.
Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle said Filipinos should greet 2020 with ''great joy'' and ''anticipation.''
''The year 2000 is not about Y2K, the end of the world or the biggest party of a lifetime,'' he said. ''It is about J2K20, Jesus 2020, the Jubilee 2020 and Joy to the World 2020. It is about 2020 years of Christ's loving presence in the world.''
The world celebration was tempered, however, by unease over Earth's vulnerability to terrorism and its dependence on computer technology.
The excitement was typified by the Pacific archipelago nation of Kiribati, so eager to be first to see the millennium that it actually shifted its portion of the international dateline two hours east.
The caution was exemplified by Seattle, which canceled its New Year's party for fear of terrorism.
In the Philippines, President Duterte is bracing for a ''tough'' new year.
At the same time, he called on Filipinos to pray for global peace and brotherhood and to work as one in facing the challenges of the 21st century.
Mr. Duterte and at least one Cabinet official said the impending oil price increase, an expected P60-billion budget deficit, and the public opposition to amending the Constitution to allow unbridled foreign investments would make it a difficult time for the Duterte presidency.
The President's popularity has also hit an all-time low, according to the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations. Survey results will be officially released on Jan. 4.
''It will be tough next year,'' the President told some reporters over dinner in Malacañang Tuesday night.
He cited the big possibility that oil companies might again raise pump prices if world crude prices went up.
A Cabinet official, who did not want to be identified, echoed the President's dim expectations.
The official said that apart from the oil price increase, also presenting difficulties were the ballooning budget deficit and the President's Constitutional Correction for Development (Concord).
''It's really going to be a difficult year, first of all because of the oil price increase and second, the budget deficit,'' said the Cabinet official.
The government suffered a P100-billion budget deficit in 2019. It is expecting a deficit of P60 billion to P65 billion this year.
''That is going to affect government expenditures and programs as well as the economy,'' the official said. ''It's going to be difficult.''
Concord will be an ''uphill struggle'' especially now that the President's popularity is extremely low, according to him.
Still, he said the President and his Cabinet would continue to push for Concord since it was expected to pave the way for increased foreign investments in public utilities, commercial and industrial production, among others.
The official believes the President's ratings will bounce back toward the end of 2020, or as soon as various pump-priming and social service programs start moving fast.
The bright spot in the Duterte presidency is the ''stable police and military'' situation, according to the Cabinet man.
He said the military and the police were rallying behind the President.
In a short speech during Malacañang's New Year's Eve Mass last night, the President pleaded for understanding, saying his government needed more time to deliver on its promises.
''I am appealing to our countrymen to understand that the government cannot provide their needs at once and all at the same time,'' the President said in Pilipino. ''Give us enough time to find solutions to our problems.''
Sin, who led the Catholic Church's millennium celebrations yesterday, said that instead of fearing industry breakdowns due to the Y2K bug, people should see the new year as an opportunity to renew their Christian faith.
Tagle, who was recently chosen as among the top 100 Catholics, celebrated the Jubilee Mass at the Manila Cathedral at 5:30 p.m.
The cardinal, who remains very vocal in his criticisms of public officials, called for ''mercy'' and ''reconciliation'' for the new year.
He voiced hope that ''love and truth will meet'' and ''justice and peace will kiss'' in the next millennium.
''For during that moment, Christ will truly have come in our hearts,'' he said.
As early as yesterday morning, hundreds of El Shaddai members had poured into the Rizal Park to participate in last night's millennium celebration led by President Duterte.
Members of the Catholic charismatic group said they were staying until after their New Year Mass, which was celebrated by Bishop Ted Bacani, and the worship and healing prayer rally at 2 a.m. today.
The Millennium Mass was celebrated at the Quirino Grandstand at 5 p.m.
First land
At the stroke of midnight Tuesday, a tiny uninhabited atoll in the South Pacific jumped from obscurity into the history books as one of the first lands on Earth to greet the new millennium.
The marking of midnight (6 p.m. Friday Manila time) on Kiribati's Millennium Island set off a rapid succession of celebrations in the South Pacific, whose position along the international date line makes the area the first to witness the new year.
The island nation of Tonga marked midnight at the same time as Millennium Island. The Chatham Islands--the easternmost part of New Zealand--hit midnight 15 minutes later.
Mainland New Zealand and the Pacific island nation of Fiji readied to hit midnight 45 minutes after that.
Dancers on Millennium Island in woven grass skirts and headdress were to welcome the millennium with a shout of congratulations and good luck after chanting farewell to the pain of the past and heralding a new era of unity.
Fireworks and babies
The first dawn over land was to break near Dibble Glacier in Antarctica at 12:08 local time (11:08 p.m. Manila time).
Kiribati was to be the first country to witness the sunrise of the new millennium at 5:43 a.m. local time (11:43 p.m. Manila time).
New Zealand's Pitt Island was to follow at 5:49 a.m.
As the largest--and the richest--nation in the group, New Zealand was planning the most varied and elaborate celebrations in the area: fireworks, concerts, and several Maori ''haka'' war dances--including one with a cast of 2,000.
Around 60 mothers in New Zealand are due to give birth early Saturday.
On the coast at Gisborne about 100,000 people were in the area which would see opera diva Kiri Te Kanawa, originally from the area, sing in the world's first sun.
In Auckland several large events including a 12-minute fireworks display were under threat from strong winds and rain.
In Fiji, several hospitals were reporting they have women who might deliver the new millennium's first child--including Lautoka Hospital which was warning they had ''a whole ward of women'' ready to give birth.
Race for first
The celebrations in the South Pacific follow a fierce race in the region to clinch a millennial ''first''--and worldwide publicity.
Kiribati, for instance, moved the international date line in 1995 so it no longer bisected the country. The move, however, also positioned Caroline Island to be among the first to see the new year. It was renamed Millennium Island in 1997.
Other countries of the region had staked their own claims to millennial firsts. New Zealand's Pitt Island, for example, was to be the first ''permanently inhabited'' land to see the millennium dawn.
And Wellington was the first capital city.
The competition was expected to continue into the new millennium: A couple in the Chatham Islands, for example, were aiming to win the title of first wedding by timing their ceremony so the words ''I do'' come immediately after the fall of midnight.
Terrorist threat
Around the United States, the arrival of the new millennium was met with caution and fears of terrorism.
The fears were heightened Thursday when US prosecutors alleged that a man and woman arrested separately at the Canadian border were linked to a violent Algerian group.
Fears of sabotage have also prompted tighter security at airports, border crossings, utilities and tunnels in many states.
South Koreans, too impatient to wait for the first sun of the new millennium, were to light an ''artificial sun'' at midnight Friday.
The orb, a ball of magnesium powder three meters in diameter, was to be ignited in downtown Seoul and would burn for the first minute of the third millennium, officials said.
The ball's luminosity would be the equivalent of 20 million candles, which Song said would give a brief sensation of daylight.
Party on ice
At a US scientific base, the champagne had been on ice for months. So have most of the revelers planning one of the world's most remote New Year's Eve parties--at the South Pole.
Braving subzero temperatures, about 220 staff at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station were to see in the new millennium as a midnight sun shone weakly from the horizon.
The station, looking like a huge golf ball half-buried in the polar ice, is home to National Science Foundation researchers, construction workers and support staff who spend months on end at the bottom of the Earth.
At midnight, the staff would uncork their champagne in temperatures likely to be hovering around minus 26 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 32 degrees Celsius).
Scientists at the station are carrying out crucial research into atmospheric conditions and polar climate change, while astronomers use two telescopes to peer through the pollution-free Antarctic skies into the depths of space. With reports from Juliet L. Javellana, Martin P. Marfil, TJ Burgonio and Dona Pazzibugan in Manila; AFP, AP
http://web.archive.org/web/20001024090130/http://www.inquirer.net/issues/jan2000/jan01/news/news_main.htm
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