Let's not forget the fight for our second runway
Whenever I pass by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority along Salinas Drive, it always reminds me of that meeting with the media and Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama around two months ago. Mayor Mike told us that he would initiate moves to have the TESDA fence removed, by hook or by crook, as this national government agency has violated the National Building Code on sidewalks.
I am writing this piece to remind the mayor on this unfulfilled promise. Here we are, the City of Cebu is busy cleaning up the sidewalks because of illegal violators, yet the biggest violator of all is the National Government. Call this the arrogance of imperial Manila and I dare say that it is high time for us Cebuanos to teach imperial Manila a lesson in obeying the laws that govern the National Building Code. Let's go Mike!
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Oops! Before we forget, 17-days of February have passed and because we have been writing about the crisis that hit our nation because of the mishandling of Oplan Exodus/Oplan Wolverine, we almost forgot that this month of February, unless we successfully block efforts by the Department of Transportation and Communications to get the P14.4 Billion that the GMR/Megawide consortium paid for the 25-year lease of the Mactan Cebu International Airport, we just might lose this money that we could use to build our second runway in Mactan.
Frankly speaking, I do not know whether the money is still with Land Bank of the Philippines in Cebu or not? I do not know how many columns we already wrote about that the second runway for the MCIA has become a necessity for Cebu to have a continued economic growth in the next 50-years. But if that P14.4 Billion were returned to Imperial Manila, for sure the BIR would take at least 30 percent of that money for taxes. This is something that Cebu direly needs and I hope that all Cebuano lawmakers and the City Councils of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay, Lapu-Lapu and Cordova would come up with joint resolutions to keep the money in Cebu.
We also make this appeal with the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc., the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc., the Cebu Business Club, and MEGA Cebu would also issue a joint resolution making this appeal for the sake of Cebu's future. Let us hope that Cebuanos would be united on this noble endeavor.
Last Saturday, it was announced in the Business Section of the Philippine Star that the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines under Director General William Hotchkiss III will be installing a brand new navigational guidance system that would replace the old Doppler VHF Omni Directional Radio Range and Distance Measuring Equipment. This equipment has been there since 1993 to guide pilots to Mactan International Airport.
This new system is a computerized air traffic control and management system that can handle air traffic as far as 250 nautical miles. This project has been awarded to the Indra Australia, Pty, Ltd, a joint-venture partner of Philcox Philippines, Inc. This will certainly upgrade Mactan's nearly obsolete traffic control systems. All I can say is: it's about time!
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Sunday night, I passed by A.S. Fortuna Ave. at around 10:00PM. It pained me to see that we Filipinos have not learned anything from many western nations, notably Japan and the USA, yes, including our ASEAN neighbors, notably Thailand and Singapore where their ministry of transportation or public works always work on roads during night time. This just tells you that we have got a long way to be the next Asian Tiger.
Sure, our economy may have been doing great, but again I would like to remind you that this is due to the Filipino diaspora where some 8 to 10 million Filipinos are scattered all over the world to be employed as Overseas Filipino Workers who in turn bring back at least US$17 billion to the nation's coffers annually. No matter how Pres. PNoy Aquino crows that this is happening in his watch, the truth is that many nations, except perhaps for Mexico, envy the Philippines because our poverty has driven our people to seek jobs outside the country.
If not for the Business Process Outsourcing industry that has created jobs for at least 1.3 million according to the Tholons survey of 2013, today the Philippines already beat India in the call center industry with estimated revenue of at least US$25 billion. At least 3.2 million Filipinos are what we call indirectly employed with the BPO industry. This means that less Filipinos leave for work abroad. Incidentally, Qatar just announced the opening of more than 100,000 thousand jobs for Filipinos. That is a great news!
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