I agree MCIAA should be privatized! But when?

The Business Section of The Philippine Star last Monday headlined a news report that said, “Metro Pacific Investment Corp. (MPIC) has expressed interest in the management and operation of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) in Cebu, which the government plans to privatize. “We are interested in Cebu. Cebu is big enough. There is a ready market for Cebu. It is probably the second largest airport next to NAIA.” MPIC chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

I can only second guess that the interest in MCIAA was triggered by the proposals by Rep. Tomas Osmeña to transfer the MCIA to Cordova, which of course I vehemently opposed for the simple reason that the national government doesn’t have the funds to effect such an expensive transfer, while politicians act as brokers to sell the vacated property to land developers. However, upon reading the Star report, it was clear that MPCI was not planning to purchase the land where the MCIA is located. Rather, they are proposing to lease and operate the MCIA as a privately-run enterprise.

If this means that the Metro Pacific Group would pay a rental to run the operations of MCIA, then I’m all for it for as long as there would be a public bidding and that the terms would be clear and transparent. Above all, MPIC should keep all MCIA employees and introduce only its top officials. I have no doubt that MCIA has a very strong business potential. It’s only drawback is that it is a government operated and controlled facility and therefore has to work within the bounds of government rules and regulations, like the Commission on Audit (COA) which more often than not do not understand the powers and duties of the Board of Directors (BOD).

If there is anything that MCIA badly needs, it is a new world-class terminal building, which at this point in time, the MCIA cannot afford to build unless it borrowed money. For future growth, the MCIA needs a second runway so that more flights can come to Cebu. While it may not yet be necessary at this time, 10 years down the road, it should already be operational. This happened in Hongkong when it only had a single runway in the old Kai-Tak International Airport. When they constructed the Chep Lap Kok International Airport, business in Hongkong soared.

If you looked at the airports of the world, the most successful ones are those that are privately-run. The most famous is London’s Heathrow International Airport, dubbed as the 4th busiest international airport in the world, handling around 70 million passengers annually. It is operated by the British Air Authorities (BAA) that also operates five other airports in the United Kingdom. When I was with the MCIAA Board, we were invited to London to see how the private sector is able to manage and operate these airports with a profit. But above all, it gives the passengers the world class service that airline operators require.

So I welcome this new development because it means that MCIA will be better run by professional managers and not by political appointees. Let’s hope that MVP’s group is serious about their proposal. They are serious enough to have this proposal published in the Star… so let’s wait for future developments very soon.

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Two articles in The FREEMAN caught my eye. First was the front page report last Saturday that quoted my good friend, Msgr. Roberto “Boy” Alesna, Parish Priest of the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, who during his homily at the Christmas party of the Province of Cebu exhorted the audience that Christmas is the best time to reflect … to prepare ourselves spiritually. This is exactly what the Season of Advent is all about … preparing ourselves for the coming of the birth anniversary of our Lord Jesus Christ. Great suggestion, Msgr. Boy, but is anybody listening?

Advent can also mean our anxious waiting for the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We already know that our Lord Jesus was born to the Blessed Virgin Mary more than 2,000 years ago … hence for us Christians, Advent is more than just waiting for Christmas to come … but to prepare ourselves for the second coming of Christ. Alas for the innocent victims of Typhoon Sendong in Northern Mindanao, they could no longer wait for the second coming of Christ nor even the celebration of his birth … for their lives were snatched from them in the wee hours of dawn when the rising floodwaters destroyed their homes and killed hundreds of people.

The other report that The FREEMAN published was the Pulse Asia Survey that revealed that a high of 88% of Filipinos looked with fresh hope for the year 2012. But we can’t tell where Pulse Asia conducted that survey because if they did that survey today in the calamity hit areas of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro, I’m sure Pulse Asia would have a totally different result.

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