B-Y-O airport and cyber bullying

When his enemies started hurling accusations of plagiarism against Senator Tito Sotto, I chose to stay out of the RH-plagiarism issue because both sides were never in my radar and there were enough participants. But recently the issue has been “diverted to” or being turned into an issue of cyber-bullying. Initially I meant to let the parties involved debate it among themselves, but it seems that some people from mainstream media have chosen to get into the act and turn the matter into something it is not.

Senator Sotto and his pro-RH critics are welcome to waste their natural lives beating on each other if that suits them, but please don’t let anybody on either side, as well as their allies twist and term cyber-bullying into what it is not. I feel strongly about this because, doing so may trivialize something evil, painful and destructive especially to women and children.

To begin with a “bully”, cyber or otherwise is someone who is bigger, stronger, or in the case of the web or cyberspace, someone more adept or superior in technical know how. The bully is not necessarily more intelligent, just someone who will prey on the weak, the helpless and the fearful.

If people choose to speak their mind or condemn an act such as that committed against a defenseless MMDA enforcer, the totality of the public outcry expressed on the web is not cyber-bullying, it is called consequence. To qualify or quantify the form of cyber expression is like trying to rationalize how one form of violence is less deserving of the subsequent form of violence.

For media to question, and term public opinion and public condemnation of a socially unaccepted behavior such as physical bullying or plagiarism on the web, as cyber-bullying reflects ignorance and hypocrisy and a disservice to the people who have worked so hard to educate us about the evil of bullying in school or in cyber space.  

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It is a sad commentary on the Philippine government when Asia’s first airline decides to build its own airport at its own expense.

When PAL boss Ramon Ang announced their plans to build their own airport, some people asked me if it would be under the BOT or Build-Operate-Transfer scheme. My reply was that under the present scheme, it would most likely be B-Y-O or Build Your Own Airport.

From the traditional perspective of business, such an idea would seem impractical considering the costs and how this would eat up into annual income and profit of the country’s best and oldest airline. However, Ramon Ang has never been the traditional businessman, he’s definitely not conventional and from what I know of him as a businessman, he thinks in terms of long term profit and not short term pragmatism.

Yes, he’s had his years of being one of the fast-break boys who made money on quick deals, but from where he’s at right now, Ramon Ang is clearly looking at the bigger picture where he will need all the elbow room for PAL’s 100 plus new planes, operational expansion and recruitment, integration and synergy of San Miguel business units with the country’s first flag carrier. In fact, I believe that the B-Y-O airport strategy is PAL’s possible solution to overcome the Philippine government’s failure to restore the country to Category 1 rating under the ICAO and subsequently be able to gain full operation both in the United States and Europe. That will certainly mean better business for PAL and bigger profits for their shareholders.

Under the present situation, PAL is being penalized and suffering for the sins of others. In spite of its many improvements and multimillion-dollar investments, PAL is unable to spread its wings in the US and Europe because it is categorized and associated with a nation unable to regulate and professionalize the rest of the aviation industry.

While the aviation industry generated a boom in air travel, the government has continually failed to upgrade, expand, and regulate the operational requirements of the industry. In simple terms, government officials got left behind in their ignorance, lack of foresight as well as perennial red tape and bureaucracy. While PAL goes about buying new planes, the President carries on making political appointees that the ICAO has repeatedly advised against because professionals must manage the airline industry.

After an uneventful two years, DOTC Secretary Mar Roxas has moved out and will be replaced by a politician, Congressman Abaya. In the same two years, top government executives regulating the aviation industry have been replaced at least twice, where retired generals or military replaced the same.

So if Philippine Airlines has decided to build its own airport, it may very well be the smartest solution. Once they have the infrastructure, all they have to do is hire all the international aviation and legal consultants and experts in order to get category 1 and not have to wait until 2016 for a new administration to actually get something done.

Maybe, once PAL puts up its own airport, it can serve as a teaching and training facility for people in government how to efficiently and effectively run an airport. Last week, a PAL plane had an incident categorized as a “bird strike” where a flock of migratory birds flew into the path of the aircraft. Fortunately no serious damage occurred and no plane crash happened.

But few people realize that the danger of a bird strike and a plane crash looms at the NAIA simply because the government does not have the political will to close down a “man-made” accidental bird sanctuary at the reclamation area near Manila Bay. I love birds but if their presence is going to cause a plane crash, just the possibility is enough reason for me to call for the shut down of the accidental sanctuary. Women and children first, men next, birds last!