NAIA-3, hot, hotter, boiling
NAIA is the best symbol of what is incorrigibly wrong about our country. NAIA stands for something no self respecting Filipino can be proud of. Mention NAIA and our heads bow in shame and our blood boil.
Last Thursday afternoon, Boo Chanco’s wife and mine took both a Cebu Pacific flight from NAIA-3. This is why I copy here some excerpts of Boo’s article published in the Philstar. Both women found NAIA 3 hot as an oven. The employees of the concessionaires there told them that it had been like this since Holy Week.
NAIA 3 is the only half decent terminal we have. And this cannot be happening at the peak of the tourism season.
It is stupid to spend hundreds of millions of pesos convincing the world it is more fun in the Philippines and then welcome visitors in an airport that is hot as an oven. As they go in and out of our country, that would be their first and last impression.
Boo then sent a text message to DOTC Secretary Jun Abaya to ask what’s going on. He texted back that he will find out what is wrong. That makes one wondering. More than a month of no air con in the heat of summer in a major terminal and the DOTC Secretary is unaware?
Credit Secretary Abaya for quickly texting back to inform that the NAIA general manager told him that there is air con ‘naman daw’ but it is just too hot the two chillers cannot take it. So he will put in another chiller the next day daw.
What a poor excuse! We have been having really horribly hot summer days for weeks now and the NAIA general manager has made the brilliant decision to put in less than the required number of chillers working? And now he will put in a third because the DOTC Secretary found out?
Most likely, the chillers are not working at full capacity, if at all, because of lack of maintenance. Or maybe he is trying to save on electricity but that is unfair because passengers are paying terminal fees. And why invest hundreds of millions of pesos in a tourism campaign and penny pinch on air conditioning?
If this retired air force general was working with Ayala, Rockwell, SM, Robinsons or even Megaworld, he would have been out of a job in the first week of no air con. Retired generals who can’t manage should just stay retired.
Cheers Boo – once again a true and punching article. Please continue! 
Related posts
April 26, 2013 Progress – yes, but too small Today I want to share with you an article written by Boo Chanco in the Philstar Business.
The article starts as this:
I don’t know how […]- February 13, 2013 Manila NAIA-3 vs. Dubai – Concourse A An airport is a country's most important gateway for tourists and for decision making people. This is even more true for a country in the […]
- November 6, 2012 Good news from NAIA NAIA, Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport, very often gets a bad press. But the guys at the airport try to do a good job. And […]
- March 1, 2012 Dark night in NAIA-3 Last night terminal 3 of Manila's airport, also known as NAIA-3 faced a full power cut. It hadn't been a brown-out but a black-out.
At […]
- September 11, 2008 NAIA-3, wear a helmet! NAIA-3: An official says a large chunk of the ceiling at Manila's new airport terminal collapsed but there have been no injuries or […]
Interesting what Boo Chanco writes today:
http://www.philstar.com/business/2013/05/15/942155/cost-slow-pace-reforms
If P-Noy can get DOTC to get off their behinds and out of their air conditioned offices and go out there and build those airports and commuter train extensions and civilize NAIA, that would be a big plus to the national psyche.
And yes, as I wrote last Monday, do something very visible and very quickly about our gateway airport— NAIA. Being a citizen of a country with one of the world’s worse airports is an unjust psychological burden every Filipino traveling abroad must now carry. We as a people already feel bad about our massive poverty… we don’t need an embarrassment like NAIA to drive us further into our shells in shame.
Here is an e-mail I received from a Fred Robinson in reaction to my Monday column:
“I’m a very frequent traveler and I took the Cebu Pacific flight to Shanghai last week. The entire time I spent in the terminal I was thinking it can’t be normal having no air conditioning. I thought I was in Africa. I’m sure glad to know somehow someone can make things happen and get it fixed. Thanks for that. Get competent people to run things.”
Here is one text message I got:
“Re: your column today in PhilStar. You hit the target dead center! Fantastic read! Must share. Just wanted to add to what your wife experienced in NAIA T3.
“Last May 11 when everybody’s going back to their provinces, NAIA closed down one whole row of CebPac check in counters – probably 10 counters. Reason – they were retiling the floors!
“So this is one plus no aircon inside the terminal, plus the collective summer and body heat MAYHEM!”
Rene B has this to say:
“Despite all the favorable news about the present administration, what matters most is what we actually see. NAIA is definitely one of our showcases for public service. And we fail miserably in it.
“My wife who is traveling right now also made the same comment regarding the air conditioning at NAIA. Nothing has really changed but we don’t read this in the papers (except in your column). You are credible because I know you to be a P-Noy supporter.”
There are more but the drift is the same.
Decisions. Actions. Two things we need to see from P-Noy and his boys in this second half. Slow pace of reforms means lost opportunities and heaven knows we can’t afford to lose any more opportunity for growth that is out there.