The Thais that bind

One of the most popular expats — or should I say people — in town is a Thai.

Well-liked in many circles — from the airline industry, to the media, to the party circuit, Thai Airways GM Nivat Chantarachoti has endeared himself to many with his Thai-ness, but also with his Filipino ways. His expressions include “Talaga?” and “Salamat.”

After all, Nivat went to high school at the Colegio San Agustin in Dasmariñas Village and graduated college from De La Salle University with a degree in Computer Science. He even marched on EDSA in 1986, side by side his La Salle classmates who were willing to give up their lives for a cause.

No wonder Nivat is at home in the Philippines and has many Filipino friends — he long ago earned the right to be an adopted Pinoy.

The son of a diplomat, Nivat has also lived in Laos and the US aside from his hometown of Bangkok. After having seen half the world as a diplomat’s son, Nivat wanted to see the other half as well on his own. He joined Thai Airways after college as a flight attendant and never left the airline. Actually Nivat likes to fly to places near the sea: “Because one’s vision is endless when one looks out to the sea...”

 His personal journey with Thai has taken him places, including to the top of the corporate ladder. He became the Thai Airways assistant GM in Sydney in 1995 and deputy GM in Paris in 1999. He became GM in Bali in 2001 and Dhaka in 2003.

His Philippine posting in 2007 was like a homecoming to him and his  Pinoy kababayans, including those he just met on his second Manila stint, have welcomed him warmly.

“When they leave, two people are going to be missed a lot by me,” says a popular STAR columnist and socialite. “US Ambassador Kristie Kenney and Nivat.”

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Over lunch at Azuthai in Makati, Nivat begged me to write less about him and more about Thai Airways, which celebrated its 49th year this month. One of Thai’s first routes was to Manila.

In 1960, Thai was a small, purely regional operation, with just three 60-seater DC-6B aircraft serving nine Asian destinations. The management at the time realized that in order to compete with bigger airlines, Thai had to be special offering something entirely different from its competitors. Thus, it flew to such exotic and undeveloped places as Bali and Kathmandu by providing the first scheduled jet service to these places.

 It also strove to offer something else: standards of in-flight service that were then unrivalled in the industry. According to Thai, its award-winning Royal Orchid Service “literally set the benchmark by which all other airlines were judged.”

“In its first year,” says Nivat, “Thai had 83,000 passengers. Today, it has grown to almost 20 million annually.”

An important segment of that comes from the Philippines, a valued market. Nivat says Thai especially values OFWs and Filipino seafarers and has a special program for them.

Nivat says it is the airline’s “Thai-ness” that sets it apart from the others.

So what exactly does he mean by Thai-ness?

“It means smooth as silk, which accurately sums up our philosophy towards service on the ground and in the air, which reflects the traditional values of Thailand and its people.”

‘What RP is now known for’

“The Philippines is now known for two things: Manny Pacquiao and Gawad Kalinga,” said Australian Sen. Bob Brown to GK founder Tony Meloto recently. This was shared with some members of the media yesterday by Meloto himself, as he prepares for GK’s “coming-out party to the world,” the three-day GK global summit in Boston.

“I am just a storyteller,” insists Meloto, “and the world is listening.”

The success of Gawad Kalinga in building homes for the poor has even led former first lady Imelda Marcos to seek a meeting with Meloto, who insists GK is “Color blind as far as politics is concerned.”

According to Meloto, the Imeldific One told him during their three-hour meeting, “You know, Tony, I am turning 80 in July. I want to be known for more than just my shoes and for being on the list of the world’s most notorious people. I do not want to be misjudged by history. Please let me use my notoriety to help GK. I also want to be known for building homes for the poor.”

Indeed, the credibility of Gawad Kalinga and its reputation as a responsible steward of resources (in other words, you see where your donations go when you give them to GK) has led even Malaysian heiress Shirley Tan (who compares the stature of her family in Kuala Lumpur to that of the Zobel de Ayalas of Makati), to search for Meloto.

Before she read about Meloto and GK in the Internet, the only Filipinos she really knew of were Lea Salonga and her (Shirley’s) own domestic helper.

At a party for Jackie Chan in Hong Kong, Shirley met some Filipinos, who were able to put her in touch with Meloto. Today, Shirley is in the midst of filming a documentary about “Life teachers.”

Guess who is her first subject? No less than the Philippines’ own Tony Meloto.

“Tony has no political agenda at all, no hidden agenda in all this,” says CamSur Gov. LRay Villafuerte, whose province has the most number of GK villages in the Philippines.

To that Meloto simply says, “We are not endorsing any one candidate. But most candidates are endorsing us!”

GK’s goal is to see five million of the Philippines’ poorest families have homes of their own by 2024 with the synergy of government and the private sector.

“When that happens, the Philippines will no longer be a Third World country,” says Meloto. “We will no longer be known only for Smokey Mountain and Imelda’s shoes.”

Maybe even Imelda Marcos is hoping to live long enough to see that day.

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