A ranking airport official is considering feng shui and other unscientific methods to fend off “evil spirits” that may be haunting the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.
The official, who requested anonymity pending approval of the proposal from higher authorities, said they are entertaining the idea of recommending to Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Alfonso Cusi the hiring of a geomancer to read the “proper alignment of natural forces” at the airport.
“We are thinking of hiring a Chinese feng shui expert and get his advice on what should be done at the NAIA-3 so we will be able to avoid this negative vibration that seems to hound the building,” the official said.
Feng shui, which means “wind and water,” is an ancient Chinese practice of arranging home or work environments to promote health, happiness and prosperity.
It is an intricate system of ways to put one’s personal or business environment in harmony with outside forces such as oceans and lights from the sun to enter one’s living room, and thus benefit daily from the blessing of life.
Many believe feng shui is very effective.
But the official took one more step further and said they are also considering the Igorot ritual of killing a chicken and sprinkling its blood to drive away malevolent spirits.
He added a local spiritualist or shaman might also be tapped just to make sure the ritual is performed correctly.
The idea to appease the spirits or heed a geomancer’s advice came on the heels of a failed attempt by a distraught woman last Friday to hang herself at the fourth floor of the airport.
The timely intervention of well-wishers and visitors while Levi Garma was choking from the scarf she tied around her neck prevented what could have been another incident in the accident-prone building.
Cusi could not understand why a neglected woman from the province would come all the way to Manila and choose, of all places, the NAIA 3 to commit suicide.
A day before the failed suicide, a seven by one-meter portion of the airport’s mezzanine ceiling came crashing down on luggage carousel number 7, two hours after a Cebu Pacific flight from Iloilo unloaded its passengers that used the same conveyor.
More than two years ago a security guard assigned at the still-unopened Terminal 3 died after he was thrown off the motorcycle he was riding.
The security guard banged his head against the concrete wall causing his death.
On March 29, 2006 a portion of the ceiling near the entrance of the arrival area collapsed, prompting authorities to defer the terminal’s opening scheduled two days later.
Two more ceilings collapsed shortly after the airport’s opening on July 22 of this year.
The incidents raised doubts on the structural integrity of the airport.
The superstitious among airport officials pointed out that when NAIA-3 was built a whole village and a church across the street were leveled off. According to them, the perceived desecration is now rearing an ugly head.
A new and bigger church had already been built from the site of the previous one but it seems nothing less than a feng shui master could unveil the mystery.