The die is cast?

It’s quite interesting to see the developments in the aviation industry as they have been rapidly developing in the past months.

As many of you may be aware of, the Philippines and the United States have gotten into a new "air rights" agreement, which to many appears to be onerous, heavily favoring the US. It is the general perception of quite a number of those in the industry that the Philippine government may have given up most of our rights to our skies by taking a "stubborn" stance in the latest negotiations with the US thereby deliberately or inadvertently losing these rights by default as the rules of the game finally turned out.

Whichever way the agreement is interpreted, many in the industry strongly feel that the access granted to our local airlines in the US as stipulated in the recently signed agreement appear like morsels after a lean meal compared to the kind of access that the US will be feasting upon.

On the other hand, some people, including former Tourism Secretary and present senatorial candidate Dick Gordon, view our present "open skies" agreement with the US as a potential tourist booster, as the US airlines can now bring tourists from the US "directly" to most of our tourist destinations in our country.

But many find this argument a lot of "bull" saying that if the US really wanted to do this, they could have done it a long time ago. Besides, with all the "risk advisories" they have so far released against the Philippines, the said prospect seems to be hard to consider.

Be that as it may, considering that the agreement has been signed (although many are insisting that our government makes an appeal for a re-negotiation, with some even going to the extent of lobbying to oust a member of the Philippine panel suspected of being more aligned to US interests than ours), what the government should do is to seriously try to work hard to strengthen the local aviation industry.

In a recent talk with PAL president Lino Zapanta, I asked him what was first and foremost in his "wish list" that the government should do in order help boost the growth of the local airline industry. His quick reply was, "Improve all our airports!"

As the airports improve, traffic of people and goods increase to the betterment of the airline industry, not to mention the improvement of the safety aspect of air travel. Of course the bigger prospect that can develop with improved airports is the prospect of an improved economy as transport of people and goods is hastened.

So, even if the die was cast to relinquish our rights to our skies in a most unfavorable manner to us, our government can still make up for this blunder by totally committing to the strengthening of the local airline industry-infrastructure, tax incentives, etc., anything to keep the industry airborne.

Pyramiding And Other Illegal Schemes

The Securities & Exchange Commission can be "helpless" in protecting the public from these illegal "get rich quick" schemes that have time and again hoodwinked many of our countrymen. This was candidly admitted by SEC Chairman Lilia Bautista in a recent conversation. The preventive measures of the SEC like monitoring firms suspected of running these illegal business and checking out advertising claims for their validity are not as potent as the public’s vigilance and involvement by reporting their presence or even the mere suspicion of any illegal activities.

On the contrary it is the inherent greed of some people that even provides some mantle of protection to these unscrupulous businessmen. It is only when the abnormal benefits cease to come by when people start to cry out and say that something seems to be amiss with the operation of some firm that have stopped giving them what have been promised before.

But Chairman Bautista made an assurance that what the public only has to do is to report to the SEC the possible presence of fraud and they have the facility to investigate and determine the presence and extent of the illegal activities and act on it before lifetime savings vanish into thin air.

And always remember that if a deal is just too good to be true-start being suspicious before being greedy.

Is The Insurance Industry Better Off Liberalized?

Commissioner Eduardo Malinis of the Insurance Commission (IC) has retired, but proof of his invaluable presence in this very sensitive government agency that guides and supervises the insurance industry in our country is his being appointed as its current OIC. He is this week’s guest on Breaking Barriers (Wednesday, 11 pm, IBC TV-13), where we spotlight movers from the government, the business sector or the society as a whole and people who are in the news or in the middle of an issue or controversy. Our weekly probe aims to gain deeper insights into the present scheme of things and current issues to find out how they impact into our daily lives.

Was the industry’s liberalization more than a decade ago, which deliberately opened the floodgates for bigger foreign insurance companies an advantage to our economy and a boost to the welfare of the insuring populace? Has the proliferation of fake COCs or certificate of cover for motor car insurance been arrested? Is the conduct of business by the SSS under the scrutiny of the IC like any other entity providing insurance? Should the GSIS be allowed to compete with private insurance companies in getting accounts from the private sector? These questions and many more shall be answered this Wednesday evening. Join us in our weekly probe into the present state of affairs of the various aspects of our daily lives.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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