The fairy tale called Selling the MCIA

In my boyhood, I abhorred listening to fairy tales. If only to meet school requirements though, I was forced to read few of such materials, those that were readily available anyway, which I grudgingly did. Stories about a fairy, normally a beautiful woman, waving her magic wand to produce something out of nothing never appealed to me. That early in my life, I realized that such tales were not only unrealistic, they were down right deceptive. I am just too glad to have outgrown that age with nary a lasting influence.

This canard about selling the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) is not unlike a form of a present day fairy tale. There is a man-fairy in a government official who waves his hands and mumbles like “Abracadabra, ang MCIA atong ibaligya.” This man-fairy makes believe or, at best, pretends that he has some kind of an authority over the fate of this government facility such that upon his abracadabra,it is going up for sale.

I am of the firm belief that this idea, quite unfortunately, is a product of the mind of one who has not done anything in the work for which he is handsomely paid. I say this because there is no visible account of man-fairy’s having filed any bill, much less, one of some degree of significance. Neither do we have any report of his participation in any serious deliberation of a legislative measure. (Maayo pa si Cong. Pacquiao). Indeed, while he was a loquacious leader in our city, who would not allow any topic to pass without it having been the object of his acerbic tongue, he has, in Congress, been, for a year and a half now, an inglorious advocate of absolute silence.

Really, if a Peter Principle on management were to require a vivid example, I could say that this solon has reached his level of incompetence. But, hold on. This lawmaker is not just incompetent. Whoever said that an idle mind is a forest of mischief must have in his sight this particular legislator.

In the idleness of his mind, and perhaps to lure his people away from the stark reality of his embarrassing zero legislative performance, this representative concocted this wild idea of the MCIA being up for sale. And what a gambit! Apparently, his constituents, for weeks now, have not looked for any piece of legislative measure from him because they have been lulled into feasting on a subject that is completely alien to lawmaking task.

Surprisingly, he successfully conned some respectable business moguls into imagining that this sale was a distinct possibility in the very near future as if his is the ultimate decision required to push it. Right, many respectable taipans were misled by his virtual representations. Based on the reports that these extremely rich businessmen have made offers to buy the MCIAA, they appeared to have participated in a grand charade quite unknowingly. Rather than ask if this projected sale had any legal basis or pronounced by one invested with the necessary authority, as they normally would before announcing critical moves, they embraced this supposed eventual sale as an acceptable magic of a modern day man-fairy.

The idle mind of this man-fairy carefully planned this whole damn thing. He knew that saying anything about it was beyond his umbra of authority. That fact emboldened him to rattle this tale because that too, was his escape. If it would not materialize at all, he would simply wash his hands and claim that he was only thinking aloud.

But, look at the other side of the coin. If the authorities who are equipped with jurisdiction to conceptualize this project would recognize its viability, this man-fairy was aware that the stage of its germination would, considering its enormity, be forever. In the meantime, he would have already signified to all possible subscribers who they should deal with and do favors for.

What a scheme! What a fairy tale. If only his mind were focused on his present job, this man-fairy of a congressman could have accomplished something commensurate with the tax money we salary him.