Birds and the bees at NAIA

The birds and the bees seem to be flocking to NAIA despite the lack of water – with the airport until now using deep well pumps for its water supply. For our airports to be relying on ground water is so medieval – and something that has actually been outlawed many years ago considering the critical status of Metro Manila’s aquifers. A lot of households, including those in Parañaque and other areas near the airport, continue to extract water from the ground using their own private pumps – something that environmental experts have long been warning about because it could cause ground subsidence or sinking, which later on could trigger flooding, as well as disastrous in an earthquake. As it is, passengers are almost always confronted by stinking and dirty restrooms especially at Terminal 1, with the fluctuating (more like non-existent) water supply attributed to a lot of leaking pipes.

An urban planning expert who visited recently said NAIA should have been transferred some 20 years ago, or perhaps relegated into a secondary airport with international operations transferred to the much bigger Clark in Pampanga or even nearby Sangley Point in Cavite. In the first place, traffic congestion leading to and from the airport has gone from bad to worse over the years. Add to that the fact that runways 06 and 26 are dangerously close to homes, with many residents around the area including Makati exposed to jet fumes equivalent to 1,000 cars revving up all at the same time whenever a jet takes off or even lands. In fact, the international airport is already too congested when local airlines take off and land during peak hours, leaving out private plane operators waiting at the wings to take off for as long as one hour.

Just recently, operations at the domestic wing of NAIA 2 were interrupted because a swarm of bees attacked the control panel of several aero bridges. A few months ago, displaced egrets (locally known as “tagak”) were also seen flying over the NAIA runways in search of insects, frogs and lizards coming from the runway drainage system – temporarily disrupting operations. Obviously, this is the kind of “the birds and the bees story” that may need some form of RH bill. No wonder the Category 2 rating by the FAA has not been lifted to this day.

Spanish doctor stabbed in Pasay Hotel

A 30-year-old female doctor from Bilbao, Spain was repeatedly stabbed 15 times in her room at a boutique hotel in Pasay City. Fortunately, the woman survived - but this does not take away the fact that such incidents plus the implicit security lapses are very bad for tourism because it reinforces the impression that crime continues to be rampant in this country. According to Dr. Beatriz Pereiro, she was surprised to find a man rummaging through her things a little after midnight last Thursday. The victim shouted for help but was repeatedly punched and stabbed - and it was only by pretending to be dead that the assailant left her.

 Initial findings showed that the suspect is a bus conductor from Partas Bus Lines who recommended the hotel to the tourist when she asked for help after boarding the bus from Clark in Pampanga. The investigation revealed that the man and his girlfriend were billeted in the same hotel - right beside the victim’s room. Coincidence? It looks more like a set up.

Ambassador defends labor attaché

Amid reports of abuses and other problems besetting overseas Filipino workers in the Middle East, President Noynoy Aquino had revived the Presidential Task Force versus Illegal Recruitment with Vice President Jejomar Binay as head. Just recently, Embassy labor officials in the Middle East were accused of involvement in human trafficking, reportedly accepting bribes from recruitment agencies in exchange for job order referrals, and forcing runaway OFWs to work for another employer. Assistant labor attaché to Kuwait Ofelia Castro-Hudson was one of those implicated, and she had been recalled to Manila by Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz who said the case would be endorsed to the Department of Justice.

Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Shulan Primavera however decried the recall order of Hudson as unjust, staking his “36 years of dedicated service to the government” in assuring that the accusation against the official is unfounded, adding that the initiative of finding new employers for distressed household workers taking shelter at the Filipino Workers Resource Center has been “maliciously characterized as pagbebenta” of distressed workers. “The motive is to help distressed household workers find new employment while their case is in the process of being settled by Kuwait government offices,” and utmost prudence is exercised in finding new households known to Embassy officials for easier monitoring, Primavera said. A lot of Filipino workers arriving in Kuwait are undocumented and their presence is only discovered when they seek shelter at the Embassy after encountering problems from employers.  

Spy tidbits

– Our famous friend Francis de Borja’s son-in-law, Alfred J. S. Araneta, has recently put a deal together for a $100-million paper mill in Cauayan, Isabela using cornstalk with the help of Korean partners. A factory will be erected on a 50-hectare area with expansion to 100 hectares being eyed in the next two years. Isabela’s corn farms will supply the raw materials with production capacity estimated at 40,000 metric tons of pulp per year. Isabela Governor Junior Dy is ecstatic about the project. 

– Turkish Airlines is upping the ante with the launch of its “comfort class” category combining the comfort and convenience of business class with the affordability of economy class in its new fleet of Boeing 777s. Turkish Airlines is also increasing its Hong Kong-Istanbul flights from five to six times a week with increased airline capacity. The airline was recently awarded the Market Leadership Award 2011 by Air Transport World for achieving rapid growth and strong profitability in 2010.

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