Blue skies for local airlines

Over the past week, Philippine Airlines reported very modest profits, still a welcome bit of news given that it is still under financial rehabilitation. PAL also reported plans to extend its service to Vietnam, a sure sign that it is slowly but surely regaining the network it had prior to the events that almost led to the airline’s liquidation.

Also last week, Cebu Pacific, the country’s second carrier, reported having received government approvals to fly international. Cebu Pacific is one of the local airlines that grew out of government deregulation policy in the mid-90s. It has apparently been managed well enough for it to become our second flag carrier. The skies had never been bluer in recent times for our airlines.

I am not too surprised with the positive developments in our airline industry. While they are still nothing compared to their foreign airline competitors, the steady growth of PAL and Cebu Pacific is an achievement of sorts, given the very turbulent skies they went through. It also shows that when things get tough and we put our all in surmounting troubles, we inevitably succeed.

Of the two, PAL was the more difficult success story. It was saddled with excess staff from years of political hiring by government. It also had to carry the burden of abuse from politicians, notably the Marcos administration who treated PAL as a kind of their own private fleet. By the time PAL pilots declared a strike in the late 90s, the airline was simply not competitive in an era of cutthroat competition in the international airline industry.

Cebu Pacific at least had the good fortune of starting fresh. It carried no excess baggage of redundant employees. It also didn’t have to suffer the drag of wrong decisions in the past. Its main challenge was to gain the public’s confidence as an airline that is safe, reliable and one whose fare structure is reasonable. Well, it did just that.

Cebu Pacific’s going international comes at the right time. Filipinos are traveling abroad in greater numbers these days. Flights out of Manila, whether by PAL or Northwest or some other airline are always packed with Filipinos. Mostly, Filipinos are going abroad to work and the numbers doing that has dramatically increased. And nothing warms the heart of a Filipino traveler than being on a Filipino carrier among one’s own people.

This brings us to the subject of open skies. That is a good concept to consider. But then again, if the idea is for the foreign airlines to bring in tourists, we perhaps ought to perish the thought, at least for now and for obvious reasons. They will bring in near empty planes and carry planeloads of OFWs out of Manila. In other words, open skies policy needs a lot more thought than some people think. Reciprocity seems a better idea.

For the meantime, our two major airlines need our support. All things being equal, selecting one of them for our foreign trips is one way of helping a Philippine business enterprise. I know the PAL flights to the US are almost always fully booked both ways, and it is also the most convenient way of going to the States. But can’t they consider being a part of one of the frequent flier alliances? That makes the decision to fly PAL that much easier.

Stupid bureaucrats

It is time for my 16-year-old daughter to learn how to drive. So off she goes to the nearest LTO office to apply for a student permit. Well, she can’t have one unless she produces a tax account number, a residence certificate and a barangay clearance. While I can understand the need to establish my daughter’s real identity, how is she supposed to produce a tax account number and a cedula when she is obviously still a minor who is dependent on me?

Stupid bureaucrats, is all I can say. No one thought about minors learning how to drive as an exception to the rule they have on tax account number and cedula. General Abenina, who is a reasonable man, should look into this requirement and make the proper amendments. And this now leads me to the matter of having tax account numbers in a specially issued BIR card. It is apparently a very important card these days, not just to get a student driver’s permit. A reader wrote to report that it is also needed to renew a driving license. "You need a BIR TIN number, not just anywhere, but on a BIR card!"

Now, here is my reader’s problem: "To get the TIN card from the BIR office, you need, among other things, your marriage certificate. My question..if you are not married, and/or you do not pay tax, or even if you are a foreigner, you cannot get a driving license… or even try to renew one?"

I guess they require it now as part of a computerization project. But the problem is, additional bureaucratic requirements like this lead to corruption. As my reader reports, "I know of a lady who obtained her TIN card from the LTO office (yes, you read that right), just to get her driver’s license renewed!" Looks like the fixers who are fixtures in LTO offices have just become more useful.

My reader is right in his observation that maybe, we should get over our paranoia over a national ID card. If it replaces the BIR TIN card, voter’s ID card and the other cards that proliferate and clutter our wallets, maybe it is time to have one.

In the meantime, maybe the LTO bureaucrats should review these requirements. Also, why not a five-year or even 10-year driver’s license so that we don’t have to always come in contact with the stupidity of our bureaucracy? If they are worried about losing revenue, they can compute what it takes to have a 10-year license and charge it. That will be cheaper than having to deal with the crooks in the bureaucracy and their cohorts otherwise known as fixers.

Fire! Fire!

Here is Dr. Ernie E for today.

A painter, whitewashing the inner walls of a country outhouse, had the misfortune to fall through the opening and land in the muck at the bottom. He shouted, "Fire! Fire! Fire!" at the top of his lungs.

The local fire department responded with alacrity, sirens roaring as they approached the privy.

"Where’s the fire?" called the chief.

"No fire," replied the painter as they pulled him out of the hole. "But if I had yelled, ‘Shit! Shit! Shit!’, who would have rescued me?"

(Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected])