Convention center

A Japanese restaurant in a five-star bayfront hotel was full last Thursday night. I have been to that restaurant for dinner many times in the past years and it was the first time that I had seen the place, including the adjoining café, so full of patrons.

The reason was easy to guess: hearing all the foreign languages being spoken, I was sure many of the diners were participants at the 45^th annual meeting of the board of governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), at the time on its second day, which was being held at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) and the SMX.

News reports said there were about 4,000 participants at the ADB meeting; it was said to be the largest crowd ever to attend the annual gathering.

The hotel is not the nearest to the PICC or the SMX, so I’m sure hotels closer to the two venues also saw a surge in business during the ADB event.

Imagine if the Japanese restaurant could be that full at least three times a week, throughout the year. That’s the business that can be brought in by the travel industry. Hotels, airlines, local transport, the food industry, souvenir shops – many commercial activities flourish. Jobs are created, and salaries tend to improve when there is a high demand for workers. Maybe we’ll see fewer Filipinos feeling the need to seek greener pastures overseas.

For obvious reasons, the travel industry likes conventions and other large group bookings. The Philippines was a regional pioneer of sorts in this department. It was the first Asian country to host the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank. But this was back in 1976, when we had not yet fallen way behind most of our neighbors. This was when Asia’s first airline – our flag carrier Philippine Airlines – had not yet been overtaken by regional competitors, and the Manila International Airport, which started out as a model for the region, had not become synonymous with airport dysfunction.

That was also about a decade after the ADB picked the Philippines as the site for its headquarters, choosing the present location near Ortigas.

We did manage to host the latest ADB meeting, attended by representatives of the bank’s 67 member states, with no reports of major glitches.

The Philippines hosted a similar meeting nine years ago, held at the ADB headquarters, and in 1986 also at the PICC, when the post-EDSA administration of Corazon Aquino was the darling of the international donor community. Unfortunately, that deep well of international goodwill (and pledges of massive foreign aid) became underutilized. Counterpart funds could not be raised, projects could not get off the ground, and the government became preoccupied with quelling coup attempt after coup attempt.

The Philippines is currently seeking to host another IMF gathering, and is likely to cite the successful hosting of the ADB meeting to get the IMF’s nod.

It would help if the ADB delegates had fun in their post-meeting schedules outside Metro Manila. A number of them were expected to visit certain tourist destinations, particularly the ones promoted in the Philippines’ global tourism campaign launched last week on CNN.

A lot of work went into ensuring that the ADB gathering would proceed smoothly. Several factors worked to make the event a success. The next thing we should aim for is to make those factors the norm rather than an occasional phenomenon.

Other countries need minimal preparations to host thousands of international visitors on a regular basis. There are cities that can successfully host the Olympic Games at a few weeks’ notice.

That’s too much for the Philippines to aspire for at this point. We’ve had a dearth of visitors for so long that even employees at the Japanese restaurant at the bayfront hotel need additional training to deal with a large crowd. Before 10 p.m. the waitresses were virtually shooing away diners, including those still sipping wine or not yet tucking into dessert, by distributing the bills (without being asked) at every table and telling everyone the place closed at 10. That’s atrocious manners for a hospitable country.

With some fine-tuning, we can aspire to regain our lead as a regional convention center. This means putting in place the factors that will ensure a pleasant stay for all Philippine visitors.

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PENSION DELAYED, PENSION DENIED: Ordinary government workers feel overworked and underpaid, and their woes don’t end upon retirement.

I have received numerous letters recently from government retirees in connection with their pensions and benefits. Public school teachers and ordinary clerks lament the meager amounts they receive. Manila cops are seeking to make their pension at par with those in the Armed Forces.

The switch to digital systems can be particularly cumbersome for elderly retirees. There’s a long wait for application and processing of Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) e-cards at the main office in the Manila Bay reclaimed area, with even wheelchair-bound elderly pensioners waiting for hours in either rain or sizzling heat outside. Once in possession of the e-cards, activation can take ages.

One writer, Eduardo A. Duarte, lamented that the five-year lump sum benefit due his wife, Lida L. Duarte, was automatically forfeited by the GSIS office in Bacolod City after she failed to meet the deadline for the submission of requirements by Jan. 15 this year.

Lida, a teacher at the Victorias National High School in Victorias City, Negros Occidental, and a government employee for 19 years, had applied last Dec. 22 for early retirement effective March 31, 2012, after she was diagnosed on Nov. 16 with Stage 4 ovarian cancer.

The date of her retirement was advanced to Jan. 15, 2012 after she became unconscious for 18 hours on Dec. 19, when fluid accumulated in her lungs and abdomen. She failed to submit the requirements on time, and died on Jan. 26, at age 63.

Her husband Eduardo, 64, has appealed for reconsideration of the forfeiture of the benefits, with letters sent to GSIS chairman Daniel Lacson Jr., regional manager Vilma Fuentes in Bacolod, and even Education Secretary Armin Luistro and education regional director Mildred Garay.

“This is a big eye-opener to public school teachers in the country and all government employees,” Duarte wrote.