Hot and humid NAIA

A regular Spybiz informant leaving on a business trip to Europe complained that the airconditioning units at the immigration departure area at the NAIA have not been functioning for the past few days, leaving scores of tourists and balikbayans sweltering in the heat. More than 2.5 million tourists visited the Philippines last year with the number of arrivals expected to hit three million this year, with every departing passenger charged P550 terminal fee. With what they’re paying, the least passengers could expect is for NAIA authorities to have airconditioning units on standby just like in most other major airports. Where is all that money going? "We’re already paying additional $5 as ‘security fee.’ Don’t tell us we’ll have to fork up additional fees again just to have these aircons fixed," several people were heard grumbling. Airport authorities must do something about this shameful situation. Otherwise, this uncomfortably hot and humid condition would be the last thing on the mind of visitors leaving the country.

Chicken and egg situation at Poro Point

Conflict between the Poro Point Management Corp. (PPMC) and Bulk Handlers Inc. (BHI), the private operator of the Poro Point Seaport is hampering plans to maximize the potential of Poro Point in San Fernando, La Union to become a world-class export facility, BCDA president and CEO Narciso Abaya disclosed. BHI, who won the contract to operate the seaport and some adjacent areas during the time of Joseph Estrada, has refused to start development unless government turns over all areas covered under the lease agreement. PPMC officials, on the other hand, cited one basic flaw in the development plan drawn up by BHI — the proposed areas for development are under litigation because of adverse claims by other parties, a fact known to BHI even before it signed the agreement. While the stalemate continues, government is losing out on a potential income of $200 million annually from Taiwanese businessmen keen to source large volumes of gravel and sand from the Philippines to sustain Taiwan’s booming economy. La Union officials had said the province and other areas in Luzon could supply Taiwan’s requirements because of the abundance of the material in the region. A Taiwanese businessman, however, said government must expand and improve the existing Poro Point seaport, which is the country’s northernmost major seaport, to facilitate the export of the material to Taiwan. "It has become a chicken and egg situation. The government cannot deliver the areas under litigation, and in turn, the BHI does not develop the seaport. The result? Our economy suffers. This stalemate must be resolved soon," Abaya remarked of the impasse.

White ladies in distress

The exposé about the leakage in the recent Nursing Licensure Examinations in June has opened a can of worms that threatens to jeopardize even the future deployment of nurses abroad. Officials of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration said the controversy has tainted the credibility of the country’s nursing exams and is making it difficult to deploy nurses abroad, including the United States, which hires Filipino nurses on an average of 15,000. The country has been lobbying for two years to host the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) for practical and registered nurses. The issue has resulted in an ugly round of accusations and finger pointing. Two weeks ago, members of the technical committee on Nursing Education under the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) resigned en masse, denouncing CHED for ignoring their recommendations to improve the standards for nursing schools, and accusing the Commission of giving way to politics and business. The Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) meanwhile had confirmed that there was indeed a leakage during the exams. The alleged leakage was traced to two members of the Board of Nursing (BON) whose handwritten manuscripts were allegedly distributed to several examinees who reviewed under a prominent nursing review center. The PRC is mulling the possibility that the examinees may have to retake the exams. This has raised a howl of protest not only among the examinees but from parents and relatives, several of whom had written Spybiz appealing for the release of the June exam results. A reader said her daughter was one of the examinees who exerted energy and effort to review for the exams, and took the tests despite running a fever at the time. Those who sweated it out and took the exam fair and square should not be penalized for the fault of a few, the readers pointed out. Obviously, the PRC, the BON, CHED and all these alphabet institutions have to resolve the dilemma of these white ladies in distress.

Spy tidbiz: Cancer doc to heal Congo’s ills?

A Harvard educated cancer researcher had decided to chuck his lab whites to run for the July 30 elections in Congo, formerly known as Zaire. Saying the country needs thinking people like him, not gun-toting guerillas and socialist dreamers, Oscar Kashala hopes to beat rebel leader Joseph Kabila and 31 others gunning for the presidency in the first ever presidential and legislative elections to be held in Congo after 45 years. Despite predictions that his chances of winning are slim, the bespectacled candidate insists he can revamp Congos’s economy and will seek the help of billionaire philanthropists like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. At a belated rally over the weekend, Kashala reportedly attracted more people than the nearby rally of Kabila, son of assassinated rebel leader Laurent Kabila. A win by the doc would go down in history as one of those "against all odds" stories.

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