The Unsung Heroes of Philippine Airlines (part 1)
Posted on Wednesday, 15 October 2014
The
Unsung Heroes of Philippine Airlines (Part 1)
By Apolinario Villalobos
By modern lingo, heroes are not just those
who saw action in the battlefields. Heroes nowadays refer to people who keep
the streets clean, sun-scorched and rain-soaked traffic enforcers, young
policemen who risk dear lives in tracking down criminals, overseas Filipino
workers, and many more. In the case of Philippine Airlines, the employees who
belong to its era of early operations, they who laid down its foundation, the
frontliners who faced irate customers and passengers at the ticket offices and
terminal, endured the sun’s scorching beating at the tarmac, and those who lost
sleep and skipped meals as they worked overtime on policies that are needed to
be collated into operating manuals, are the “unsung heroes”, I am referring to.
The airline as the country’s flag carrier
has been magnanimous in its role – practically in bringing the islands
together, easing the travel of Filipinos, propping up commerce that nurtured
the eventual development even of far- off towns and islands, and shuttling
people from abroad to interesting nooks in the country, thereby bringing
consciousness about an exotic archipelago somewhere in Southeast Asia, along
the rim of the Pacific. Philippine Airlines, proudly flew the country’s colors
in its effort to put the latter in the international tourism map, and it was
successfully done with its prime travel program – PALakbayan. And, that was the era of the airline’s struggle to make
significant contribution to the country’s economy. With Ricardo G. Paloma, “Mr. Tourism” among the people of the industry
during his time, at the helm of this effort, success was achieved, and of
course, with the help of its “unsung heroes”.
The screening of future heroes of the airline
started at the time of preliminary interviews, during which sincerity was
gauged in the answers to two questions: “are you willing to be assigned
anywhere?”, and, “are you willing to learn?” Standard answer was of course,
yes, but the clever interviewers, station bosses, who themselves, rose from the
ranks, were able to discern sincerity in how such single word was further
enhanced by the interviewees. With
further filtering, the hundreds of applicants were trimmed to the very few that
consisted the so-called “cream” – thick in its consistency of enthusiasm, courage and sincerity.
During the rigid training, the applicants
were further scrutinized, as not only the basics of station operation, check-in counter handling,
and ticketing were taught, but moral values and attitudes, as well. Those that
showed resistance were eventually eased out. The early management of the
company showed compassion and fairness by not giving much weight to the alma
mater of applicants. My case was a clear example, having graduated from an
obscure school in the south, but proud Notre
Dame of Tacurong College.
My first assignment in Tablas, exposed me
to the intricacies of station operation handled with resourcefulness most of
the time. The station personnel got worried every time there was rain and the
direction of the wind changed, factors that dictated the load of the aircraft.
Some of the towns where the ticket offices were located had no electricity.
Reservation was done manually. As an extra mile in serving the customers who
came from far barrios, those who arrived late, meaning, early evening, were
served with the use of a kerosene lamp. That was the situation when I set foot
in Tablas where I found Celso Dapo,
Oswald Alamo, Sonny Garcia, and Bien
Alvaro, the Supervisor who welcomed me with warmth. They were the first
heroes of PAL that I met. We had no day off as even on flightless days, we had
to conduct some kind of community outreach by mingling with the locals to
ensure their patronage of the airline. Our threat was the more frequent
schedule of ferries from the nearby town of Looc and the bigger ships that made
regular calls at Odiongan.
I saw the same situation in other stations
that I visited when I assumed later a job to research on tourist spots for the
TOPIC Magazine that I edited. When I visited Mamburao, Obet Reyes, the station Supervisor and his staff endured the
loneliness of being far from loved ones. Assignment of personnel depended on
the need of any station, so that some of my batchmates during training were
assigned to Jolo, like Abet Yu who
hailed from Cagayan de Oro. I came to understand why right at the moment of the
first interview, willingness to be assigned anywhere was extracted from
applicants, as I later found out that those who hailed from Luzon were assigned
in Mindanao or Visayas stations, and those from the latter provinces were
assigned in Luzon stations or Manila. Just like the gallant men of the
military, they boldly accepted assignments without question.
What we see today is a somewhat modernistic
Philippine Airlines that fly world-class, long and wide-bodied aircrafts which
is far from the picture of many years ago when the Philippine skies were sliced
by its HS-748’s, DC-3’s, YS-11’s, and a little later, BAC1-11’s. The airline’s
president, then, was Benigno Toda, a
Hispanic and very accommodating person who were perceived by the employees as a
“father”. During his time, the airline was like a big family. And, there was no
spat in anyway, with the union.
Aside from the harried effort to come up
with systems and manuals, the airline was also into community outreach to
promote air travel awareness, at the same time. Through its Public Relations
Office (PRO), now Corporate Communications Department, aircraft familiarization
tours for school kids and groups were conducted. The office was also tapped
when there was a need for exhibits in schools, complete with stewardesses in
sleek uniform. The staff of the said office, likewise, conducted film showings
in communities and schools, or during seminars about the airline. This effort
showed that PAL flew its aircraft not only for profit but also to foster
goodwill, and contribute for the welding of the islands into a cohesive country
despite its diversified cultures.
The effort of the PRO was duplicated by the
Tours and Promotions Office, under
its manager, Vic Bernardino which
conducted slides presentations in schools and during seminars organized by
government agencies, such as Department of Tourism, local government units, and
travel agencies. The said office conceptualized the PALbayan Tour Program, which gave a new face to travel.
Practically, the whole staff were adept as resource speakers for tourism
forums. The whole staff was also given tasks that covered all facets of tourism
industry. Ed Buensuceso was a scuba
diver, mountain climber, birdwatcher, and cave explorer and so were John Fortes and Thelma Villaseῆor;
Bong Velasco was a mountain climber and bird
watcher; Mayee Santos Cuenco was a
thorough researcher on festivals and tourist spots; Reggie Constantino, Ed Ramos, Bong Velasco, and this writer, whose
primary responsibility was to edit the TOPIC Magazine, were also into mountain
climbing and cave exploration. Tour programs for groups were developed by any
of us for tourism students who would like to visit a place to fulfill a
requirement in their course. The same effort also benefited travel agents who
had requirements for special groups. Again, in this effort, those assigned in
outlying stations were all out in giving their support. They served as “meet
and assist parties” for groups that arrive in their stations. Practically,
passengers were made to feel that PAL cared for them – all the way.
On the other hand, those behind their desks
at the head office, worked double time in formulating policies for the
operating manuals. The combined efforts of the Marketing and Sales-Philippines
Department’s divisions, such as, Standards and Coordination under Ed Guatelara, Luzon Sales under Teodorico Pabelico, Market Planning
under Gil Carolino, Cargo under Joe Clemente, the Administrative group
under Salvador Caburian, and Metro
Manila Sales under Tessie Luna, proved to be just impressive. What with their
brilliant staff, such as Dennis
Balictar, Gary Cruz (who later became a Director/AVP of Cebu Pacific), Toto Antonio, Jovy Jovida (who later
headed another department), Jay Delfin (now,
a respective Marketing Consultant in Indonesia), Bong Valencia (who later became VP-Airport Operations), Johnny Carls, Gabby Briones, Emma Tronco,
Ceres Noble (who later became a Director of Cebu Pacific), Gene Asuncion, Frankie Guttierez, Alvin
Feliciano, Edwin Bautista, Toton Oban, Dixon Ilanderal, Nelson Du, Rey Reyes,
Tina Bacaltos, Ramon Magno, Ex Estandarte (who later became
Manager-Research of HRD), Mike Villaflor
(now, concurrently as Staff Manager for Philippine Region and functions dually as Head of Luzon and Metro Manila Sales), Belinda Yngente, Edette
Razon, Amee Atotobu (now, a manager of Metro Manila Sales), Ayee Asuncion Garvida (who held a
Ticket Office manager), and Nina
Intengan. Plucked from the provinces for their talents were Archie
Batu, Juancho Dimagila, Ludy Bagares, Raymond Baylon, Cris Lebumfacil, Ayee
Noval, and Glenna Tan. Not to be
forgotten is Milagros S. Limgenco
who during that time was an executive of Luzon Sales, and later, Director of
Metro Manila Sales…she who worked earlier than the regular log-in time, till late in the evening. There could be
other names that I have missed…but, as recalled, they will be mentioned in
other related blogs.
PAL’s Golden Era was during the time of Mr. Benigno Toda, during which Mr. Ricardo Paloma was the Regional
Vice- President for Philippines and Guam. It was during that time that the
oneness of employees as one family was strongly felt. Those belonging to other
departments did their share by upholding the spirit of discipline and pride for
being part of the country’s flag carrier. Everybody was driven by the desire to
excel in their assigned tasks, be they at the Comptroller Department, Corporate
Planning, Marketing and Sales-International, Airport Operations, Passenger
Handling, Public Relations, Inflight Service, Passenger Service, Reservations,
and Maintenance Department (now, Lufthansa Teknic).
This desire to excel in assigned task was
among the sparks that ignited the idea to come up with the Total Passenger Care program. The concept actually was developed
during a workshop of supervisors and managers in Baguio, and a name I can
recall that formulated the concept was that of Tessie Luna, manager of Domestic
Ticket Office. The program practically made those who availed of PAL service,
feel not as customers, but as members of the PAL family, too. They were
pampered with comfort all the way from the time they purchased their ticket
until the time they reached their destinations.
PAL would not be what it is today, without
the unselfish dedication of its unsung heroes. Some have retired many years ago
yet, some just a few years ago, some still just lately, and with a very few
still working for the company, as if like leaves clinging to the robust tree,
waiting for their time to fall…and become a nutrient to further its life. That
is the humble legacy of the early employees of PAL…as nutrients to ensure that
it will go on streaking the Philippine skies with pride!
Discussion