Modernization backward

The sign said: “Welcome to Bacolod-Silay Airport”

As someone who travels to Bacolod annually, I know that the “new” airport was suppose to be a big deal for different people, for different reasons.

Flying into Manila, I did not really get a chance to appreciate what the new airport had to offer. I did notice that you no longer walk on the Tarmac but go through the “tube”. It was tiny by international standards but “new” is new and I was glad that the Province of Negros now had a “new” airport.

All that sense of optimism was dashed when I returned to the new airport to find it “Closed”. At the front of the Departure gate sat a Norwegian visitor complaining to thin air about the fact that he had never seen anything like this anywhere in the world!

Then came an American consultant who was advised to be at the airport 3 hours early to avoid any unexpected delays. I could only sympathize with their culture shock and their subsequent heat stroke.

There were no signs, no announcements, certainly no explanations. I only found out from a bunch of helpful “istambays” (loiterers) that the airport is kept close until the airlines open their check-in counters and then the airport security opens the entrance doors.

No one really knew if it was part of some Green program of government or if they simply did not want people inside the airport in order to keep it clean and stay looking and smelling “new”.

The “istambays” I learned were part of 50 to 80 ex-porters who lost their livelihood when the modern terminal was made. That’s real progress. Machines and systems take the place of people and their jobs. By adopting Western technology, we displaced Asian family.

In the mean time, the crowd outside was growing, the temperature was rising, and peoples’ patience was running out. I suppose you tend to get mad when you can’t even get into the airport that your taxes paid for, that the government said was for your convenience, and will still charge you P200 to serve you!

Personally, I was in pain. Given my damaged spine, standing around for an hour is a sure formula for back pain. Even if I needed to sit, the only place I could do so was on the passenger barricades or the dusty floor. But if you do that the outside security guard glares at you!

It’s amazing how even the layout and the exterior designs of airports are so ANTI-PEOPLE. They never have enough seats even if they go out of their way to have large floor spaces!

As I opted to take pain killers, I could only pity a mother who had to care for a “special”-“handicapped” child who had to be taken some 200 meters to the nearest outdoor toilet. Of course there were also a number of “old” people who hobbled and struggled to make it to the outdoor toilet. I wonder how Cabinet members would feel if their parents were forced to go through such inconvenience?

On the other hand we should really place catheters on architects and engineers and not make them piss for a week when they start designing public toilets and women’s facilities. Maybe then they will finally come up with relationally intelligent facilities!

I finally managed to dig deeper into this controversy and I was told by a real “security” personnel that the airport manager a certain Mr. Felizardo Toralba was on leave for the Holy Week and is currently in his hometown of Zamboanga.

I found that strange considering that “Holy Week” is suppose to be a “All hands on deck” time because of peak volumes. Maybe Silay-Bacolod is not part of the system.

I also learned that the “close door policy” of the airport was the bright idea of the local Aviation Security Group because people should not be inside the facility until the airline personnel man’s the counters. So the Citizens of the Republic are refused entry because the authorities are incompetent of securing a terminal intended for use of the public!

The sign said it all: “Out of Order”.

When we were finally allowed to enter the terminal our taxes paid for I quickly noticed the sign hanging on the front of one of the new X-ray machines.

You have to wonder how a relatively new airport, with new X-ray machines immediately has broken equipment? Or is it some genius’ idea of hanging a sign so they don’t have to explain why they don’t operate two machines at a time?  

In fact I noticed this in many airports in the Philippines. Do authorities think it is better for the public to think we have broken equipment rather than tell them that machines are being operated only one at a time?

The sad consequence of this failure is that “Bacolod” suffers from the incompetence of DOTC officials who represent National government. The Norwegian traveler essentially put the whole thing in spoken words.

Upon entering the gates, he told the airport personnel, I’m never coming back here again. It is just too difficult an experience!

Added cost for added inconvenience

Flying out of Bacolod I learned that sabungeros are now required to check-in their roosters as cargo in a different building about 100 meters from departure. The usual box they often now costs P530 to ship. Then in Manila you have to claim them at another building.

Why didn’t PAL simply charge a higher separate fee but allowed people to check in at the counter and retrieve them at the baggage area like they have done in the last 50 years? It’s the same plane, the same space and no extra inconvenience.

The new system is another attempt at reinventing the wheel at an extra cost and inconvenience to PAL customers!