Why are we still a 3rd world country?

Waiting for our flight to bring us back home, one can see how US airports operate and despite the so-called recession in America, their airports, whether it is the John F. Kennedy International Airport, Orlando International Airport in Florida or the George Bush International Airport in Houston are a beehive of activity that gives you a glimpse of the US economy. I was watching the ground traffic at the George Bush International Airport with at least 10 commercial airlines lining up to take off is visible proof that at least for the State of Texas the US economy is flourishing.

To think Houston International is not as big as JFK, LAX or Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, but I heard that Korean Air now flies from Cebu to Seoul to Houston, which should give Filipinos living in Texas a hassle-free nearly direct flight to the Philippines and back to their home State. As we had an early flight, we saw a group of pilots eating breakfast in - where else - but MacDonald's before taking their flight. Hmmm, Filipino pilots must have been fed better than their American counterparts.

I have been at the George Bush International Airport since the mid-90's when I used to come often to Texas to visit our friends. This airport is older than the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, yet this International Airport is efficiently run. You can only second-guess why this is so and that is because airport managers in the US have to pass certain criteria before they become managers of International Airports.

This is where things are totally wrong in the Philippines. Why don't you ask yourself what is the qualification of NAIA General Manager Jose Angel Honrado? For sure he has never managed an airport or even a sari-sari store but he is the personal choice of Pres. Benigno "PNoy" Aquino III and his qualification is that he is his "bata-bata". If you ask me, this is where reforms should start in the Philippines, especially at a time when the NAIA has been dubbed as "The Worst International Airport in the World."

But I really don't blame Honrado for the fiasco that is the NAIA today. Blame must be put squarely on the hands of his appointing authority and that is no less than Pres. Aquino, where its roots can be found in the 1987 Constitution that gives the President vast powers.

In this vast constitutional power, even idiots can be appointed to run international airports.

I don't know how many columnists (this includes my fellow Star columnist Boo Chanco) who have written about the problems at the NAIA. We write in the hope that our criticism would be taken constructively. But we are shouting at a blank wall because Pres. PNoy wants his man at the top of the NAIA even if he is not qualified to handle that facility. On the other hand, US columnists never write about their airport problems for the simple reason that managing airports efficiently is a given.

Now do you want to talk about the "Dili ma landingan" airport in Cagayan de Oro?

This is why whenever the Palace spokesmen spew out a litany of reforms of the Aquino government; most pundits say that this is nothing but pure Goebbels type of propaganda. To be perfectly honest about it, an airport is nothing but mortar and stone or steel just as schools are made of concrete. But our standards in running things make the Philippines a 3rd world country. I dare say that it is about time that we should start to change things for the better and it should start with the way we run our airports.

Yesterday we came up with a comparison between the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas and our own Fort San Pedro. Now why did I make that comparison? That is because way back in 1972, I was able to see the Alamo, more so that we also saw that John Wayne flick "Remember the Alamo." This was a piece of Texas history that happened in February to March in 1836 and when I first saw it, it was very much like our Fort San Pedro that has no activity at all, not even a souvenir shop complete with maps and history books. 

Today, the Alamo has become a major tourist destination in Texas, which now houses a museum with artifacts of that famous battle. Their souvenir shops are packed with magazines and books about the history of the Alamo and how the brave defenders chose death rather than subjugation by the Mexican Army.

On April 3, 1898, Pantaleon "Leon Kilat" Villegas fought the Guardia Civil at the corner that now called Tres de Abril St. and V. Rama Ave. and the Spanish Guardia Civil retreated to the relative safety at the Fort San Pedro. This is the only historic incident that we know happened at the Fort.

Yet there is no historic account that is written in stone inside the Fort San Pedro to remind our people of that historic moment when Filipinos fought against Spanish colonialization. It is a crying shame that the people running Fort San Pedro do not even remember that piece of history so the tourists would know we fought for our freedoms from Spanish tyranny.

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