Glued to the chair, stuck at the runway

In 1986 when Cory Aquino formed a revolutionary government right after the EDSA Revolt and declared all local seats vacant, not a few mayors resisted. No less than three dozen locked themselves up in their municipal offices, forcing designated officers-in-charge to wait outside until hunger wore down the holdouts. A mayor of Pangasinan forcibly had to be carried out strapped to his executive chair.

A case can be made for such officials, duly elected by constituents. But not for mere appointees who refuse to vacate office despite the naming of replacements – like Manila International Airport general manager Ed Manda.

Manda and all other presidential appointees were deemed resigned before Gloria Arroyo’s June 30 inaugural. Executive Secretary Bert Romulo had instructed them to turn in courtesy resignations. They are to continue functioning only if no one is appointed in their stead. In Manda’s case, ports authority general manager Alfonso Cusi was named the new airport boss. Proper papers were issued, along with Malacañang press releases. He took his oath of office before Transportation Sec. Leandro Mendoza last week. But Manda has not packed up, so Cusi is left cooling his heels somewhere at the runway.

And Runway 06-24 is dangerously slippery during these rainy days, going by Operational Hazard Reports filed by international airline pilots. In the three weeks from May 21 to June 4 alone, there were nine close calls because the superbrakes of jumbo jet were no match for the runway floods. In one case, with the plane landing at what should have been an easy nine knots, the pilot felt a sudden steep jerk to the left, Only his timely full-right brake and reverse enabled him to regain control. The crew complained too.

Any airport has two basic customers: the airlines and passengers. Its job is to provide them comfort and convenience, safety and security. For this, the airport management hired 14 consultants, 1,294 utility men, 352 terminal guards and 732 perimeter guards, on top of the 473-strong airport police. And for them, management has increased aviation service fees by 400 percent – stopped only by a temporary court order.

For all its consultants and personnel, management has not drained the excess water from the runways. Yet there’s often no water in the toilets, and fixtures are broken. If it’s any consolation, though, a whopping P800 million has been set aside for toilet repairs. After all, there was a steady rise in the number of canteens, paying fees but crowding passengers out of the walkways with stocks and merchandise littered on the floor.

To his credit, though, Manda has busted several gangs of human smugglers at the airport, for which he reportedly earned death threats. Human smuggling into and out of the Manila hub is a multimillion-dollar racket for which syndicates are willing to kill.

With such headaches to inherit, Cusi might be better off stuck at the runway.

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Corporations are like humans. They can get struck by conscience to right a wrong they’ve done, then take a step higher and go on spending to do right.

Take the case of Mirant, once frequently criticized in the US for air pollution from its coal-fired power generating plants. In the Philippines, Mirant set up in Sual, Pangasinan, what is now considered Asia’s cleanest coal power plant. Moreover, around its other facility in Pagbilao, Quezon, Mirant replanted 150 hectares of both mangrove and upland forests. For that, it was cited by Unesco-Philippines commissioner Leonarda Camacho as "one of the redeeming factors of our environment audit."

Unesco, which is collating data on remaining natural resources in all 79 provinces, noted Mirant’s project in Pagbilao and adjoining Padre Burgos as one of few successful corporate models of environment rescue. By replanting hills and shores, the company assured its host communities of sources of marine and upland livelihood and food. It also created, in the process, jobs and ecotourism destinations.

Ahead of Mirant, Caltex-Philippines had restored forests in four barangays in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte, at a cost of P13 million. From 1991-1996 it harnessed the barriofolk to nurse and raise 43,500 saplings, 70 percent of which survived. Replanted were hillsides that slash-and-burn farming had long turned into dustland. For the Good Roots project, Caltex had "imported" anthropologist Dr. Ben Wallace, assistant provost director of the US Southern Methodist University’s international office.

Armed with the lessons and success of the Ilocos reforestation, Caltex plunked in another P14 million, this time in Lobo, Batangas, an hour’s drive from its refinery in San Pascual. Again for five years, 1997-2001, it mobilized townspeople to reforest four barangays at the foot of the mountains. The community prospered, buoyed by healthy surroundings and assured of irrigation from watersheds.

Caltex then moved to Pugo, La Union, where it replanted barren lands around the foot of roads going up to Baguio. The project took two years, 2002-2004, and cost P2 million. Tourists driving up the summer capital invariably notice the restored look of the lower Cordilleras. Baguio, in contrast, is crying for "environment reclamation."

As with humans, corporate conscience begets costs. "Companies sometimes feel that setting a budget is enough," Wallace sums up Good Roots’s experience. "The difficulty is to accept that there is no return-on-investment for the budget. There is no cash return for the company. You work for the future of the people, not just your employees or customers."

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Catch Sapol ni Jarius Bondoc, Saturdays at 8 a.m., on DWIZ (882-AM).

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