It's our last article for the month of December and the last one for the Year 2013 and I was about to write on the ugly stories that happened in the year 2013, but then our local newspapers reported about Cebuano government officials having second thoughts about the privatization plans for the Mactan Cebu International Airport. Apparently, this is the result of the Department of Transportation & Communications efforts to bid the MCIA for that P17.5-billion project, which was won by the lowest bidder Megawide, which only now that people are beginning to realize that Megawide does not have a good partner to handle airport operations.
First of all, the Mactan International Airport Authority was created by a special law through the efforts of former senator John "Sonny" Osmeña and Rep. Raul del Mar in Congress at that time when the Governor of Cebu was former governor Emilio "Lito" Osmeña. The authority was put in place because then the MCIA was under the Bureau of Air Transportation, which at that time couldn't even purchase toilet paper for the toilets in the airport because of its bureaucracy. The idea of having an airport to be run by Cebuanos under the control of Cebuanos was the right thing to do.
But former president Cory Aquino vetoed that law, just prior to the last coup d 'etat against her government. Yet the Osmeñas still supported Tita Cory and after the dust settled, the Osmeñas asked that DOTC Sec. Reinerio Reyes be replaced and he was replaced by DOTC Secretary Oscar Orbos. But in those days, it was the Governor of Cebu who called the shots in the MCIAA Board until the year 2010 when Pres. Benigno "PNoy" Aquino, III took over and now the MCIAA is completely subservient to the DOTC. What a huge setback for MCIAA!
Mind you, those plans for the privatization of MCIAA have always been on the table, simply because we know for a fact that an airport run by a private company will be far more efficient than its being run by government bureaucrats who knows next to nothing about running our airports. This is why even if the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 111 is already operational it is run so badly by its general manager Jose Angel Honrado whose only qualification is that he is the "bata-bata" of Pres. PNoy. I already said it here that airports should be managed by hoteliers!
Now our Cebuano political leaders are openly declaring that they are against the DOTC project and all types of suggestions are pouring out, from simple suggestions, all the way to hilarious or ridiculous ones. For instance the suggestion of Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama to construct an alternate airport in Medellin was obviously taken out of context. What we need today is to improve the facilities of Mactan. An alternate airport is a totally different plan, which can be done very much later. So let's focus on Mactan guys!
Perhaps the trouble here is that, our media are asking those people who have neither any idea nor concept of running an international airport and naturally they give out the wrong answers to their questions. Meanwhile, I hope that the year 2014 will bring back some modicum of control over the MCIAA rather than what is happening today where Manila-based bureaucrats of the DOTC are doing the planning for us in Cebu. It is clearly back to the old days of Imperial Manila, which we Cebuanos have shunned a very long time ago. We have lost the spirit with which we created the MCIAA!
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If there is anything that Cebuanos ought to be proud of, it is the earnest efforts of the private sector companies that took the lead in helping the victims of Super Typhoon Yolanda. Right after the super typhoon struck us on Nov. 8, the Aboitiz Foundation came up with a clarion call "Bangon Visayas" with the objective of harnessing its efforts to raise funds for the relief of the typhoon victims. I just learned that by Christmas time, AF was able to secure P203 million, which exceeds their original P200 million target.
Of this total amount, P60 million was spent for relief operations, while P140 million has been earmarked for the rehabilitation of schools in northern Cebu. A total of 36,365 relief bags were distributed to northern Cebu and Western Leyte, while 13,950 hygiene & sleeping kits were distributed, a total of 106 barangays were served by some 4,767 volunteers. As for the Visayan Electric Company they restored some 873 electrical posts in northern Cebu, while 349 posts were restored in Leyte. A total of 1,308 school buildings are currently being assessed for rehabilitation.
Come now, which private sector company has done more than the Aboitiz Foundation? I would even dare to say that AF did more than the entire Province of Cebu! While their efforts doesn't diminish what the other private sector individuals or Non-Government Organizations did, but with those figures that we got, I take my hat off to Aboitiz Foundation.
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Email: vsbobita@gmail.com