Up up and away and ‘non-performers’

Come Sept. 14, 2024, the NAIA complex is scheduled to be turned over to San Miguel Corporation which will undertake a major redevelopment, extensive renovations of certain areas and construction of new buildings or facilities. However, all these, by my estimate, won’t be immediately evident in the next 12 months.

Unlike projects where you build entirely new facilities that allow you to hit the ground running with no obstructions, the NAIA redevelopment and renovation process will surely be slow and tedious. To begin with, the new management and developers cannot disrupt operations in the air, on the ground and inside the facilities, especially during the “-ber months” and Christmas to New Year.

Aside from flights and passengers and cargo, there are locators with existing contracts and ongoing business concerns. Then there are various offices related to aviation, security, systems operations. Last time I was in the NAIA terminals, I overheard employees of locators who were concerned about contract renewals.

Then there are the matters concerning who manages or controls the airport police, locations of booths, parking areas for various types of airport taxis, cooperative vans, Grab and standard taxis, etc.

On the passengers’ side, several women have already shared their hopes that the first thing the new management will address would be toilets that are three times larger than the current women’s toilets. Stricter rules and policies on cleanliness and maintenance of locators serving food and beverages. At Terminal 1, I personally went through three broken baggage trolleys before I found a usable one. Seniors also pointed out the need for bigger, more readable signs.

So, anytime you become impatient or tempted to criticize, ask anybody who has built a house or renovated a building what the experience was like. It is nothing like what you see on HGTV!

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Last week, I attended a dinner that was long overdue and in character, the host assembled a list of guests that was more than I expected and far different from whom he said was coming.

There was a couple from the diplomatic corps, a European mobility expert and his spouse, a veteran journalist and his beloved wife, a cyber security expert, a public relations executive, my host who is a fellow journalist and his wife who is an expert on local and regional cuisine, culture and its history. Last but not least, a “Malacañang observer.”

Everyone enjoyed the unique dinner presentation of food and history shared by like-minded foodies, but it was made more interesting by the mix of characters and dispositions around the table. The diplomat was still on “work mode,” the mobility expert visibly restrained himself from lamenting about the challenges faced by foreign companies with mobility projects in the Philippines, particularly right-of-way acquisition by the government.

Our host simply could not control himself from being a journalist and took every opportunity to “interview” his guests, while the more senior among us simply savored the food and amiably contributed to the sporadic topics of conversation. But it soon became apparent that everyone was being polite towards the “Malacañang observer,” who was more enthusiastic about comparing medical history and mindful of unnecessary political comment.

What he did share were observations we all had in common. Primarily the pro-business attitude of PBBM that has sparked many projects all over the country through the private sector. On the opposite and negative side, the “Malacañang observer” acknowledged the frustration of President Bongbong Marcos with non-performing assets or “NPAs” in the executive department.

The columnists pitched in with their assessments and the departments that were picked out from the “police line-up” were the Presidential Communications Office, the Department of Tourism and the Department of Health: the PCO for being slow to respond to issues and developments, the DOT as weak in promotions and presence, the DOH for being slow in response to public health concerns.

A few days later, I heard on the radio that Sec. Cheloy Garafil of the PCO was transferred to the Manila Economic and Cultural Office or MECO, where a lot of people aspire to be placed due to the perks of the job.

Replacing Garafil is veteran broadcaster and experienced government executive Cesar Chavez, who did a stint on trains for the DOTr. The question is will Chavez manage to address the claims that their office has essentially been “reactive” and not proactive, to be more about government and not propaganda made to please the President? Will the comms office succeed in opening Malacañang channels and portals to ordinary Filipinos to address grievances?

Can Chavez succeed in making Malacañang more inclusive and consultative? Will they act on misrepresentations made by people and officials claiming to be close to the presidential couple? We pray that he does so.

As for the DOT and the DOH, the words that I picked up over dinner were: “underperforming,” “disappointing” and an approximation with the word “wrong fit,” “not a team player” and “abrasive.” Some people are apparently scouting for professionals with the required competency to fill a short list just in case.

Given the speed of changes at the Presidential Communications Office, the question is will there be a similar “musical chairs” activity at the DOT and the DOH? According to the dinner guests, we would all know soon enough, as rumors are now floating about plans of certain executives to run for public office in 2025, perhaps to avoid being relocated or replaced.

If so, it will all be public just before the filing of certificates of candidacy this coming Oct. 1 to 8. If not, then who will be the next to leave the Kingdom of Malacañang?