Showing posts with label aviation. Show all posts

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Ang Pangangasiwa ng Manila International Airport (MIA)

Posted on Monday, 23 November 2015

Ang Pangangasiwa ng Manila International Airport (MIA)
Ni Apolinario Villalobos

Hindi pala alam ni G. Honrado na saklaw ng kanyang responsibilidad bilang General Manager, ang buong Manila International Airport. Ibig sabihin, hindi pala niya alam na Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) ang nag-iisyu ng mga temporary pass sa buong airport para sa lahat ng mga taong may kaugnayan sa operasyon nito. Hindi pala niya alam na para maisyuhan ng temporary pass ay kailangang i-surrender ang company ID, o di kaya ay dapat magsumite lahat ng mga ahensiya ng listahan ng mga empleyado nila upang maisyuhan ng pangmatagalang temporary pass. Hindi pala niya alam na ang  malalaki hanggang sa kaliit-liitan gamit ng MIA, ay may tatak na “MIAA Property” at may control number. Nakalimutan rin siguro niya ang malaking “insidente” na nangyari noong panahon ni Gloria Arroyo tungkol sa pagsugod nito sa MIA nang walang pasubali o abiso upang makita talaga ang mga kapalpakan sa mga parking areas, kaya nang mabisto nga ay “sinabon” niya on the spot ang pinsan nitong in-assign din na tulad niya bilang General Manager.

Ang Manila International Airport ay parang shopping mall. Ito ay may pinaka-hepe na dapat mangasiwa sa lahat ng mga nagtatrabaho sa loob, kasama na ang security, mga concessionaires, contracted agencies at mga namimili o namamasyal lang. Ibig sabihin ang pinaka-hepe nito ay may responsibilidad na sumasaklaw sa buong operasyon ng mall. Ganoon din sa MIA na dapat lahat ng bahagi nito ay pinangangasiwaan sa kabuuhan ng General Manager – mula sa runways, tarmac, terminals at parking lots. Siya ang nasa itaas at sa ilalim niya ay iba’t ibang ahensiya ng gobyerno at mga concessionaires na nagkakanya-kanya ng pagkontrol ayon sa saklaw nilang operasyon na nakasaad sa mga Operating Manual nila, na nakabatay naman sa Operating Manual ng MIAA. Sa pinakagitna ng kani-kanilang operasyon ay ang Manila International Airport Authority.

Dapat ang susunod na itatalaga bilang General Manager ng MIA ay taong may “managerial skill” (kaya nga tinawag na General Manager) at may malawak na kaalaman sa airline operation. Saklaw ng airline operation ang iba’t ibang kaalaman tungkol sa mga bagay na may kinalaman sa “aviation security” kaya hindi kailangang manggaling ang taong itatalaga mula sa anumang military branch ng Pilipinas. Bilang isang industriya, ang international aviation ay may mga pinatutupad na mga patakaran upang masigurong ligtas ang mga pasahero ng iba’t ibang airlines. Napapag-aralan ang mga patakaran sa pagpapatupad ng security sa airport, at palagi ring ina-update batay sa pangangailangan ng panahon, na tulad ngayon ay hantad sa terorismo. Dahil dito, hindi kailangang may actual exposure sa military operation, na napakalayo sa isang civilian airline operation, ang General Manager.  Dapat ay ituring na malaking leksiyon dito ang nakaupo ngayong General Manager na nagpipilit na wala siyang pakialam sa ibang operasyon ng MiA.


Ang malaking problema nga lang ay kung umiral uli ang napakakorap na pag-iisip ng uupong Presidente na magtatalaga na naman ng pinsan, o kapatid, o bayaw, o tiyuhin, o dating driver, o dating messenger, o dating masahista, bilang General Manager. May napapagbatayan na kasi…kung sa Ingles – may “precedent”….may mga una nang ginawa kaya gagayahin na lang!

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The Plan of the Philippine Government to "Modernize" Manila International Airport Terminal 1

Posted on Friday, 9 October 2015

The Plan of the Philippine Government
To “Modernize” Manila International Airport Terminal 1
By Apolinario Villalobos

Hearing again the “plan” of the national government to modernize the international airport 1, raises eyebrows of Manilans and frequent travelers to the overrated city. Only one big question can be asked: how can that be possible with a boxed-in space?

Perhaps, because of the ongoing construction of flyovers directly to the international airport terminal 1 from the City of Dreams and elsewhere, that, for the national government is already “modernization”. The flyovers will definitely just provide short-ranged relief from traffic because connections to those flyovers such as Taft Avenue, Roxas Boulevard, MIA Road, and EDSA are still bottlenecks, not to mention the Sucat Road in Paraἧaque.

By modernization of the international airport facilities, it should mean, that the whole building and its peripheries… the tarmacs and runways, as well as, other facilities operated by concessionaires are included. The simple makeover that was haphazardly done to the Terminal 1 is definitely, not a modernization. The government’s spokespersons are making a fool of Filipinos who, they thought are dumb.

The seemingly infinite problem of the aviation industry in Manila is the traffic of the incoming and outgoing flights due to the limited runway. Morning and early afternoon flights are the most affected as taxiing out aircrafts have to wait until incoming flights have safely taxied in, resulting to delays that take as long as six hours. The domino effect of delays is just incredible! For instance, the last flight from Davao that is supposed to arrive in Manila before 10PM, most often arrives at past midnight!

On the other hand, the decaying terminal 1 is until now, on its refurbishing stage. The makeover cannot hide the fact that the toilets are not consistently spick and span, the aircon units’ performance is still far from satisfactory, the taxi service is still miserable.

As with terminal 1, the rest of the terminals are boxed-in, too, with no space for further expansion. The three terminals are sharing the same runways, so that all of them are practically affected by the traffic of aircrafts.

The national government should stop talking about “modernizing” the airport terminals in Manila, especially, if it is insinuating more projects for this, because those in the know will definitely suspect that another round of corruption is in the making due to contracts involved. In the first place, such promise is no longer viewed as realistic.

Let me mention here, the toilets of all the airport terminals which are not cleaned consistently, with their malfunctioning urinals and faucets of lavatories, defective flush mechanism of toilet bowls, and the unkempt “gardens”. What is disgusting is the absence of a downward escalator for the nearby terminal 2, only just a slow and aged upward escalator. The elevator can accommodate only 4 or 5 passengers. And yet, the government keeps on talking about “modernization” of the airport!

What Manila needs is another international airport somewhere else, and the area where it is located should be the “progressive type”, expansive, with reserved portions for future developments. If the transfer of airport terminal to a better location was made possible for Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, and much earlier, for Davao, why can’t it be done for Manila that has more options?

Again, the national government should stop talking about this issue, as its objective is very obvious- to show that the outgoing Pnoy is doing his best as President of the Philippines, while his administration is projecting the country’s image as making leaps and bounds due to economic progress under his term….a doubtful allegation. As skeptics always say about his administration: tell that to the Marines!