Will Corona have the last laugh?

DEMAND AND SUPPLY

By Boo Chanco

The Philippine Star

This is funny… but only if you want to laugh to stop yourself from crying. According to Marites Danguilan Vitug in an article she wrote for Rappler, “CJ nominee Cesar Villanueva’s law firm, Villanueva Gabionza and De los Santos, defended Cristina Corona in the cases she filed against her relatives, the Basa-Guidotes, in the Securities and Exchange Commission and in the trial courts.”

Supposedly, the Utopian brods of the former Ateneo dean who are in very influential positions in Malacañang are lobbying for him. If this is true, P-Noy must at the very least be told about this information.

Remember, according to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, it was the unfairness of how the Basa-Guidote heirs were treated by the Coronas that clinched his conviction vote. If this former dean had anything to do or if he did nothing about the unjustness of the legal strategy of the Coronas to take control of the family corporation, P-Noy should know that.

Interestingly, I got information that the relatives of Mrs. Corona are now very upset at how they have been used for propaganda purposes during the impeachment hearing. Some of the Basas live in our subdivision.

Apparently, after that televised tear-jerking drama of hugs and protestations of a desire to settle fairly, nothing more happened. The Basas are back to where they were before the impeachment or even worse.

The former dean may be well qualified, but so are the others in the short list. Just think how silly everything will seem if his Utopia brods succeed in blindsiding P-Noy into appointing him! That five month drama would have been for naught. With Corona’s lawyer and close friend as the new CJ, Corona would have the last laugh. And the world would be laughing at us too.

I trust P-Noy to do the right thing if he had the right information. But he already appointed this former dean once before as head of the newly formed governance commission for GOCCs. I am sure he was not told everything about him beforehand. His kabarkada will yet be his undoing.

Tourism up, DOTC down

The latest survey of the Makati Business Club is very revealing. It shows DOTC Secretary Mar Roxas losing the respect of his traditional constituency – the Makati Business sector. DOTC is now ranked 43, down from its previous rank of 27 and a net negative score of -16.3 compared to a negative score of -10.8 same time last year.

Bangko Sentral is still the top ranked government agency with a net score of 94.6, up from 77 last year. The most impressive performance is the Department of Tourism under Secretary Mon Jimenez. From number 32, DOT is now number two. From a negative rating of -13.5, it now has a positive rating of 81.1.

Well, maybe Mar will score better next time if DOTC gets really going. It has been credited with coordinating a multi-agency effort to scrap over time charges of Customs, Immigration and Quarantine personnel. It is also set to release the airline passenger bill of rights. It is also starting the process of bidding out the extension of LRT1 to Cavite.

On the airport, DOTC is still getting lousy reviews for Terminal 1 and the seeming delay in its upgrade. The handling of airport congestion was also less than desirable as domestic airlines were penalized first because Mar didn’t have the balls to move out general aviation from NAIA. He was afraid of offending the corporate fat cats who downgraded his approval rating anyway.

An announcement to bid out the P212 million seismic retrofit of NAIA 3 looks like a positive, but a few questions about it have also been raised. From the scope of work described in published reports, the seismic retrofit works looks very extensive. Experts I consulted are not even sure P212 million will be sufficient for so much sophisticated structural work on such a large structure.

Doesn’t it seem strange so much upgrading work is needed on a relatively new and modern structure? Did they apply new, more stringent, design criteria? If so, why?

One would also think that if Terminal 3 is in such a hazardous seismic state, the building should be closed until all retrofit works are completed and accepted by DOTC. If Terminal 3 needs retrofitting to deal with earthquakes, how will an old structure like Terminal 1 (built to old, obsolete codes) respond in a major seismic event?

Why is DOTC going to pay for these modification costs while at the same time also having a separate agreement with the Terminal 3 contractor (Takenaka) for correction of missing items needed to operate the Terminal 3?

Considering the extent of seismic retrofitting works to be undertaken, shouldn’t the contractor and designer be held responsible to correct such defects? There is a 15-year liability period that is applied to designers in the Philippines for structural defects.

As for these high-speed exit ramps ($14 million!), a reader pointed out to me that if you look at the runway with Google Earth, you can see what appears to be two such exit ramps there already. So why two more?

The problem with Mar is that he is so stingy with information. An infrastructure agency like DOTC is obligated to give the public progress reports on its projects. I cannot understand how a supposedly intelligent politician can neglect this aspect of his job so badly. No wonder he is getting a negative press and a plunging approval rating.

Consider the negative impact of these lead sentences in a Wall Street Journal article on our international airport:

“The airport code “MNL” – for Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport – can strike fear into the hearts of even the most hardened business travelers.

“With its long snaking lines, tatty departure lounges and congested, overlapping runways, Terminal One at Ninoy Aquino is regularly voted as one of the world’s worst airport terminals in online polls. It didn’t help that two people were injured when part of the terminal’s ceiling collapsed last year.”

The long article ended with this sentence: “Philippine Airlines, meanwhile, is looking at another alternative: building its own dedicated air hub. Now half-owned by industrial conglomerate San Miguel Corp., Asia’s oldest airline is looking at investing in an entirely new airport complex on some of San Miguel’s land just south of Manila’s city center.”

Actually San Miguel is thinking of an airport in Bulacan or north of Manila. It is strange now, the country’s hope for a decent airport lies with Ramon Ang. That’s not good for Mar and P-Noy. But if they cannot do it, they just might as well take Ramon Ang’s offer and support this private sector initiative.

One more thing… now that we have this problem with China, what is Mar’s new course of action for the fast train from Clark to Manila? Obviously this cannot be delivered before P-Noy’s term ends but the ground work should be started now before squatters start reclaiming the right of way we spent so much to clear.

MWSS reforms

I was surprised to hear that MWSS chairman Dondi Alikpala and MWSS administrator Gerry Esquivel are being accused by MWSS employees of abusing their perks like what their predecessors did. I know both of them and I don’t think they are the type to do anything that would tarnish their names and family reputations.

Besides, the MWSS Board composed of well regarded professionals with good reputations for integrity, like Ateneo president Fr. Jose Villarin S.J. would never allow such abuses. I suspect that a number of MWSS oldtimers are just upset because they lost their undeserved perks. Alikpala and Esquivel have started to align that notorious water agency with P-Noy’s Daang Matuwid.

For example, the MWSS Board ordered the implementation of a COA ruling that declared the P150 per day meal allowance for employees, among others, illegal. They are also correcting excessive pay and perks within MWSS.

Would you believe an MWSS driver was receiving P97,000 per month? His pay was reduced to P38,000, which is still higher than what government drivers in other agencies get. Would you also believe that MWSS drivers are given a car plan as with all employees that involve a subsidy by MWSS at minimal interest? The Board questioned that too.

Why do MWSS employees get excessive pay and perks? That’s a legacy of past corrupt administrations. And yes, with the public service job of water distribution already being done by the private sector concessionaires, MWSS is also overstaffed.

Oh well… the Daang Matuwid is indeed difficult to implement and this smear campaign is just one manifestation.

Bureaucrats

Teacher: What does your father do?

Student: He’s a bureaucrat.

Teacher: What about your mother? Is she a bureaucrat also?

Student: No. My mom works for a living.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco