Boxing in paradise

There is simply no stopping people from coming to the paradise called Palawan, and in the next few days Palawan will host the 55th annual convention of the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF). Not only will the convention host boxing officials and experts from Asia, Australia and the Pacific from Nov. 9 to 12, the event will also host participants and boxers from 17 countries as well as from the former USSR under the professional Association of Martial Arts.

Of course when people talk about Palawan and sports, the name Mitra is sure to pop up and in this case the former Governor and now chairman of the Games and Amusements Board Baham Mitra just so happens to be the concurrent president of the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation. So it’s no surprise that the event is in Palawan and to spice things up, the OPBF convention will also showcase five title fights, two of which will feature female boxers from Japan and Thailand on Nov. 9 and open to the public for free. Tourism and sports promotion is certainly becoming a viable option for the Philippines and we should all do our part to support such events.

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Everyday we hear the latest score or number of times the MRT stalled, and like an afterthought, TV and radio reporters tell us what caused the stall or numerous stalls of the MRT. Is this supposed to be a game or has mainstream media particularly TV and radio in the Philippines lost sight of the fact that many lives could perish in a major derailment or freak accident on the MRT?

Focus is always on the number of stalls or malfunction per day, but last Monday, the most terrifying possibility occurred in the form of “smoke” of unknown origin forcing the trains to stop and forcing riders to evacuate and go on foot. I find it alarming that more coverage and air time have been spent on “hazing death,” EJKs, and dead terrorists in Marawi but hardly any serious concern has been expressed concerning the state of the MRT and the fact that if a fire happened and the doors don’t open – people will fry or die by suffocation if not trampled to death.

Even the people involved, namely DOTr officials and representatives of Busan Universal Rail Inc. have focused on each other’s failure to comply with terms or accept responsibility, but not on the true state of the MRT or if the MRT trains are indeed coffins in waiting!  What are the plans of the DOTr aside from having a temporary management team to take over BURI’s chores? Stop telling us how many times the trains stopped – start telling us what the real state of the system is. Is it safe to ride the MRT? Should the government continue to let the MRT run its trains or should the government put in emergency measures for the shut down of the MRT in the very near future?

Lives are more important than popularity surveys and even the most politically correct decision will turn around to be a curse if people die, fry or burn in a train wreck. It’s all just a matter of time until somebody dies. Then there will be no turning back and if you think the BURI people look bad now, you can’t imagine the tidal wave of anger that will destroy the DOTr and the Duterte administration if something very bad happens in the MRT.

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The Civil Aeronautics Board or CAB has floated the idea of imposing floor and ceiling rates for domestic airfares and prohibit overbooking. Why float the idea – just do it!

People have been complaining about the cost of airline tickets, overbooking, restrictive baggage allowances, rebooking charges, and the fact that some destinations in the Philippines cost more than an airline ticket to Hong Kong, Tokyo or Taiwan.

For example, the average round trip airfare to Batanes is almost the same price as a round trip to Tokyo. Then there is the complaint of frequent flyers who can’t get special rates or corporate rates not to mention the lousy system the airlines have when it comes to logging down mileage for points or privilege. Time and again passengers have to check and manually update their accumulated mileage. Speaking of overbooking, the last time I flew on a domestic trip, the airline called for nine “volunteers” willing to give up their seats in exchange for P4,000 and a free ticket to any point in the Philippines. The airlines obviously make enough money to give away money when they overbook. 

But instead of improving on their business model, the industry brings in an “import” into the game, namely the director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Alexandre de Juniac who promptly opposed the CAB idea because a price cap “may hamper the growth of Philippine aviation industry,” What’s interesting is that the IATA boss cited lower airfares from the Philippines to ASEAN destination since 2005. The IATA boss claims that lower airfares have encouraged more people to travel.

One big factor why more people travel by air is because more airports have opened up and the only reason the airlines offered lower rates was in order to attract people to come on board. The question is, how long did those promo fares last?

The Civil Aeronautics Board should come out with the history of airfares from 2005 for DOMESTIC routes where there is a duopoly. That study should include the average cost per air mile and determine where competition exists and where exclusivity of service results in predatory prices such as Batanes. The CAB should also require the duopoly to reveal how many seats they really offer for their promos such as their Piso fares and who the actual passengers were. CAB should also investigate how widespread the practice of overbooking is and its economic impact on passengers in terms of flight delays and cancellations.

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