Blackmail

Sometime in August 1981, American air traffic controllers walked out of their jobs after negotiations for pay and benefits fell through. They were warned not to strike because that is illegal for Federal employees under US law. But they did anyway, perhaps thinking that they held the US government by its balls. 

But former US president Ronald Reagan had another thing in mind. He disliked being threatened by a union. He didn’t think the union should break the law. 

Reagan ordered the striking air traffic controllers to return to work within 48 hours, or be fired. He subsequently fired 11,345 air traffic controllers and banned all of them for life from working for the federal government. 

He didn’t allow the government to be blackmailed because after all, it is the government. Mr. Reagan showed the world how to be president. 

The air traffic controllers overplayed their hand. They thought the president would capitulate to them because the US simply cannot afford to have all its airports close down.

 But because the negotiations were going on for months, the US Department of Transportation had the good sense to prepare contingency plans. As soon as the strike happened, they were ready to bring in replacements. There were problems during the transition, but things turned out remarkably well. 

I recall this event in American history because of the problem we now have with our own immigration officers abandoning their posts at the airports. It now takes as long as two hours to clear Philippine immigration counters, a shameful failure of government. There is no excuse to justify long lines in any airport in the civilized world.

 I listened to the secretary of justice give a long explanation during a newscast why this problem is happening. He expressed sympathy with the financial complaints of the immigration officers. He almost justified the disruptive action the immigration officers have taken.

Indeed, he eventually gave in to the demands of the immigration officers. He proposed going back to the old system while the immigration law is amended to provide a permanent solution. I wonder if the President can take back his veto. Even if he could, that makes him look terribly weak.

 Unfortunately, the secretary of justice, the official with responsibility for the immigration commission all but confessed helplessness. He said he would appeal to the President because it was the President who ordered a stop to a practice of giving the immigration officers “overtime” pay taken from express lane collections. The President said it was an illegal practice and ordered funds be turned over to the National Treasury. 

 It was impressive of President Duterte to take a tough stance with the immigration officers. Past presidents allowed the immigration people to have their way for too long. President Duterte showed he is made of sterner stuff. He should stand his ground. 

But his subordinates did not anticipate the predictable negative repercussions. So we have the immigration officers walking out during the peak travel season. The immigration agents are effectively blackmailing the Duterte administration. 

The helplessness of the Duterte government, reflected by the secretary of justice, is pathetic. The airlines are now advising their passengers to come to the airport five hours before their flight schedule because of the great amount of time it will take to go through immigration. This is an untenable situation that makes the normally tough talking secretary of justice look and sound like a useless eunuch. 

Ronald Reagan was a mild mannered former movie actor, but he acted like the president he was elected to be when the air traffic controllers tried to blackmail him. And it is a lot more difficult to replace air traffic controllers than immigration officers whose job merely involves checking names in a list covered by a travel ban and stamping passports. 

What is happening at the airports today shows a Duterte Cabinet member sorely lacking management skills. In a country where thousands of college graduates are looking for jobs, it would have been instinctive and easy to train enough potential replacements right after Mr. Duterte made his decision to ban the illegal practice. The budget department created close to 1,000 new positions that the immigration bureau should have filled. 

The forcible takeover of government housing units intended for police and military elements also elicited a weak response from the administration. Kadamay, a left-leaning group claiming to represent the homeless poor, declared they are tired of waiting for government to provide them housing.

 So they simply took over long completed housing units the police and military beneficiaries have refused to occupy because of shoddy construction and absence of utilities, among others.

President Duterte acceded to what Kadamay did. It delivers the message that government can be bullied. You can go ahead and take what you want. The President will allow you to get away with your illegal act. That’s sheer anarchy.

 Kadamay’s takeover focused national attention on the National Housing Authority. This is the inept and corrupt government agency responsible for this continuing failure in the government’s housing program. 

President Duterte was elected primarily because of his claim that he would be a tough and decisive leader. This is not what we are seeing now in all areas of government outside of the anti drug war. 

What we have seen so far is a leader obsessed with killing every drug addict in the country and nothing more. With some few exceptions, his officials apparently do not have the management skills to run an organization as complex as the Philippine government. 

Why is the secretary of justice allowing himself to be blackmailed by immigration officers? Why did President Duterte give in to the illegal act of the communist-leaning activist group? Both cases showed weakness. The administration shouldn’t have made this weakness apparent. It destroys their credibility in governing this country.

Reagan had balls and had the good managerial sense to plan for a contingency in case negotiations fail. Our current justice secretary and the NHA showed they are just plain helpless. In a sense, this ineptness and helplessness is as bad as suspected corruption that brought a Cabinet member down. 

Holy Week will be an extremely busy week in our airports. Unless they are able to replace those missing immigration officers fast, the brunt of the blame will fall on Mr. Duterte. The President will take the blame for his bungling officials only because he tolerates their ineptitude. 

Results matter. The President should take no excuses for failure to manage. 

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco