With so many controversies like Charter change, the fertilizer fund scam, farmers from the provinces staging hunger strikes and marching to Malacañang to press complaints over land reform and other issues, Filipinos might begin thinking they could “do a Thailand” and stage protest actions and seize airports, virtually paralyzing everything in the process.
The closure of the Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang Airports in Thailand left more than 350,000 tourists stranded, with tourism revenue losses estimated at a daily average of $57 million. Prior to the protests, Thailand had been expecting some 15.5 million tourist arrivals and 600 billion baht in earnings, with projections that 16 million more would visit the “Land of Smiles” in 2009. As it is, one million people had lost their jobs, and it is expected that tourism revenue losses could reach up to $4.2 billion over the rest of 2008 – equivalent to 1.5 percent of Thailand’s gross domestic product. And that’s not even counting the cost in the export industry.
While this may sound cold and calculating, the Philippine tourism industry should make sure we gain from the fallout in Thailand and reinforce the image of the Philippines as a viable tourist alternative. Ace Durano should work even harder to promote all these adventure tours, agri-tourism projects and all other attractive packages that can be offered to tourists especially those who had to cancel holiday plans in Thailand. But before we raise our hopes too high, we have to make sure that airports in this country are tightly guarded since they are soft targets and highly vulnerable not only from terrorists but those who want to paralyze the economy. NAIA General Manager Al Cusi should be on his toes to make sure that what happened in Thailand will not happen here, with people blocking the runways and forcing flights to be cancelled.
People still remember the chaos at the airport during the arrival of Jocjoc Bolante because of the media frenzy that happened. Reporters and cameramen became practically uncontrollable, shoving everything and everyone that came in the way of their coverage. This is probably the only country that allows media people to put their tape recorders and cameras right in front of a person’s face. In other countries, at least they maintain a respectable distance or otherwise, make use of cameras with telephoto lenses. Even the crew of Northwest Airlines became very concerned because some press people were apparently able to go inside the aircraft.
After what happened to Jun Lozada, airport people had been more inclined to be “open” to the media but some people (some of whom were suspected to be bogus mediamen) really went overboard with JocJoc Bolante. After the frenzy, Al Cusi has promised stricter scrutiny for requests regarding media coverage and see to it that the safety of passengers will not be compromised. In fairness to Al, he is probably one of the best and hard working general managers the MIAA has had, always trying to be on the ball. He should have the support of all the other agencies working within airport premises.
But there’s no denying the fact that our airports are susceptible to security hazards and safety problems. When George W. Bush visited Manila in Nov. 2003, they had to clean up several areas around the flight path, with safety becoming such a concern that there were even plans for Air Force One to land in Clark. Our airports are literally going to the dogs, like the time when we were in a private PLDT aircraft that was about to land in Baguio when a dog suddenly came out of nowhere and ran right in front of the runway. Since it was already too late to abort the landing, the pilot simply prayed for the dog to scamper away in time – which is exactly what happened. Even in some tourist destinations like Palawan, pilots still have to put up with second class airports that could prove dangerous during landing and takeoff.
It’s a good thing NAIA Terminal 3 is finally open after lying idle for six years. But even then, there are still concerns regarding its structural soundness, and many are of the opinion that it’s still a long way from becoming really top class and completely operational. It’s also rather opportune that flights can be diverted to Clark in case there are problems with the NAIA terminals. At any rate, the events in Thailand should give us valuable lessons, because it’s very obvious that we stand to lose a lot if our airports become paralyzed not necessarily due to protest actions but for some other reason.
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Reaction to “insurance leakage”
We received a reaction to a Nov. 20 column item from former Sun Life Financial president Lorenzo Tan about the complaint filed by Maria Teresa Chua against the insurance company for alleged breach of confidentiality. According to Tan, Sun Life exerted every effort to adhere to its privacy commitment but in the end, it had to comply with the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s request because under the National Internal Revenue Code, BIR has the power to obtain documents in support of its investigations. It was also apparent the BIR already knew of the existence of Chua’s policies, even citing policy numbers in its letters to Sun Life.
Tan also said Sun Life kept Chua informed of the correspondence with BIR and even facilitated a meeting between Mrs. Chua and SGV tax consultants in 2006 to assist her regarding the BIR’s investigations into her finances, and that Chua eventually surrendered her policies during the end of 2006 until 2007 but without any force from Sun Life. Then in May 2008, Sun Life received a letter from Mrs. Chua’s lawyers demanding for a reinstatement, and in October 2008, the insurance company received a copy of the complaint filed by Chua before the Manila Regional Trial Court.
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Email: babe_tcb@yahoo.com