Resign, resigning, resigned

First the good news: in one of my recent columns I nearly blew a vein venting my frustration about the extremely expensive airline fares being charged for flights to Batanes. At that time the average round trip fare was P16,000.

 By sheer coincidence, yesterday marked the Philippine Airlines’ “probing flight” to Batanes, which I understand is the first of many such flights until PAL can establish regular flights. The best news is that if all goes well, travelers can expect to pay approximately half or one third of the current prices being charged by other carriers. According to Ramon Ang, PAL or PAL Express will utilize brand new 74-seater Canadian made aircraft. So all of you who thought Batanes will have to remain a bucket list, you can now start researching and saving for your flight on Philippine Airlines.

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After submitting and winning on their P11-billion bid for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway project, quite a number of people have started to question the sanity behind SMC’s “astronomical” offer considering the nearest other offer was a reported P305-million bid from the Manila North Tollways Luzon Corp.

In response to the question SMC president Ramon Ang simply took out his trusty calculator, lead pencil and started listing down the comparative costs versus revenues or existing tollways, traffic volumes and data arrived at by a team of engineers, accountants and consultants. In the end, Ramon Ang used what amateurs like me would call “actual” and current values and reasonable projections.

Among them were current number of vehicles going to the Manila International Airport Complex specifically to Terminals 1, 2, and 3. He added to that the current traffic volumes of cars going through NAIA to Roxas Boulevard to Manila and Cavite particularly the toll road. In effect what Ramon Ang was saying was that the P11 billion up front cash payment was based on statistical data, research and not on the roll of the dice. He stressed that even though he is president of SMC, his decisions are still based on the conglomerate’s professional work and he remains accountable to shareholders and directors.

Apparently what some people call astronomical, or in the words of DPWH Secretary Singson as “aggressive,” was nothing more than “good business sense” and paying what the project was worth instead of the traditional practice of professional bidders to “nickel & dime” which in Tagalog is to be “barat” about it. By paying actual value to the government, the SMC group won the bidding, took control of a project that promises to create very good cash flow as well as having a trophy and asset they can connect to their existing businesses as well as future plans.

While the SMC bid may have raised a few eyebrows, most of them did not see how the SMC decision to offer “based on actual value” will now redefine biddings and price offerings for government projects.

It would be safe to assume that San Miguel Corp’s new initiative will now make bids on government projects more expensive, tougher and will surely separate the men from the boys in terms of liquidity and capacity to pay or bid on government projects. While the new initiative will clearly benefit government financially, such a corporate move will also place the pressure on any company to drive up efficiency in order to drive up profits.

When asked about why SMC opted to pay the P11 billion up front instead of utilizing a subsidy being made available by locators/casinos inside the entertainment city, Ramon Ang clarified that the fund was not a subsidy but was in effect a loan that would have been costlier to utilize. Knowing their numbers, SMC knew they could get a better deal elsewhere and opted to do so.

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Resign, Resigning, Resigned: what’s the difference?

Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us that when a man lusts after a woman in his thoughts, he has already committed adultery. I wonder if the same applies to all the people who talk about resigning from their jobs or positions. Have they in effect committed the act of resigning or should we resign ourselves to the fact that people who frequently talk about resigning actually have no intentions of doing so?

One would think that in a country that has spoken English for decades, people would have a fair understanding and appreciation of what is meant when they say they are “resigning” from their job or their position. To begin with, professional ethics and courtesy dictates that one’s resignation is first submitted to one’s employer or superior. One does not announce it to the world or to the media intended to be used as a social barometer, or to solicit sympathy.

As a prerequisite to the act, the traditional conduct has been to be discreet, deliberate and intelligent about reasons and plans on resigning. You don’t talk about it until you’ve decided to do so, unless, you are simply generating sympathy or are a total idiot who deserves to be fired.

Because you arrived at your decision based on intelligent deliberations, you should have the resolve to commit to your decision. If you’ve spent a good amount of time and effort talking about resigning, the very least you can do for your audience is to fulfill their expectations. If you don’t have the stomach, the resolve, or enough reasons to actually resign, at least do everyone a favor by keeping your mouth shut. 

In a company setting, people like that are the equivalent of a hysterical passenger screaming, “the ship is sinking.” I guess that was the very reason the fishermen threw Jonah overboard only to be swallowed by a whale. He bellyached so much the only place he could be quiet was in the belly of the whale!

If for whatever reason you decide to back out on your pre-announced resignation, at least have the humility and honesty to admit your immaturity and “bratinela” behavior regardless of whether you are 21 or 101 years old.

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