DEMAND
AND SUPPLY
By Boo
Chanco
It
would seem that Clark International Airport (CIA) is not going to
become the country’s new international gateway
during P-Noy’s watch. Talking to newsmen over the weekend in
Pampanga, P-Noy said the national government has no plan yet to make
Clark the new gateway due to the absence of a high-speed train
connecting Clark to Metro Manila.
No
plan yet, he says. It takes more years than P-Noy has left in his
term to plan, build and inaugurate a worthy international airport. So
I guess we are stuck with NAIA unless P-Noy has something up his
sleeve and the only other game in town is Ramon Ang’s proposed new
airport.
P-Noy
said the problem with Clark is its 80- kilometer distance to the
National Capital Region, which he said was twice as long than the
usual distance between airports and main city in many countries.
Without a high-speed train, P-Noy said, it would be difficult to
convince passengers to travel three to four hours to get to Manila.
That’s via the congested EDSA and C-5 highways after exiting NLEX.
Building
a high-speed train to Clark would be expensive, Mr. Aquino said. It
also takes time, again more than the number of years he has left in
his term. It may also not even be possible to do that now while we
are still in limbo with the aborted NorthRail project with China.
This project will likely go into arbitration which takes years, like
NAIA 3, during which things stand still.
So,
the President effectively junked the findings of a JICA study that
looked into various alternative locations for a modern
international gateway airport for
Metro Manila. That study zeroed in on Clark as the most feasible.
Interestingly,
RSA had just recently withdrawn San Miguel’s proposal to build a
modern terminal at Clark. RSA told me and PhilStar columnist
Cito Beltran that he has mentioned the project to P-Noy who
supposedly asked him if this was really deliverable that soon. As
I reported in a recent column, RSA has promised to deliver this
airport in a yet undisclosed place which is no more than 20 minutes
away from the Makati/Bonifacio business centers via
a 6 lane expressway which he will also build. Best of all, RSA
promised to deliver the new airport in three years or within P-Noy’s
term.
RSA
also told us he was just completing land acquisition so he could not
disclosed the exact location yet. But he is ready to make a full
presentation to P-Noy by January next year. RSA was also not worried
about encountering red tape from government in getting necessary
permits.
Indeed,
if RSA has P-Noy’s blessings, it is possible that the airport can
be made operational faster than if this was a DOTC project.
Smaller airport projects of
DOTC, including a few already approved by P-Noy some time ago are
still to break ground months after.
But
I wonder if this is considered an unsolicited proposal which still
needs a Swiss challenge which could delay construction. Or can it
just break ground quickly because no government assets will be used?
The only big hurdle in that case is the environmental impact
statement.
NLEX
connector
Speaking
of how bureaucracy can potentially frustrate Ramon Ang, I have been
hearing rumors that his NLEX-SLEX elevated road connector project is
being opposed by DPWH Secretary Babes Singson. Babes went so far as
to seek a reconsideration of P-Noy’s decision to allow both San
Miguel’s and Metro Pacific’s proposed connector projects.
Secretary
Singson is trying to convince P-Noy to give him jurisdiction over the
San Miguel project which is now already being acted upon by the Toll
Regulatory Board. Singson is a part of the TRB Board but the TRB
itself is under the direct supervision of DOTC.
There
were also talks that Singson is trying to broker an agreement where
Metro Pacific can buy an interest in the San Miguel project. Some
form of agreement between the two will have to be made at some point
because the two road projects have the same alignment above the PNR
railway tracks in the vicinity of Paco.
Interestingly,
Dax Lucas of Inquirer reported last Monday that Singson “inserted”
the Metro Pacific connector road project in the NEDA meeting without
the knowledge of the NEDA staff. According to that report, “Singson
took the floor to extol the virtues of Metro Pacific Investment
Corp.’s NLEx-SLEx connector road project. (Singson was once
employed by MPIC as the head of its Maynilad unit.)”
Curiously,
Singson did that “after he personally attended the Toll Regulatory
Board meeting and objected to the final approval of San Miguel
Corp.’s rival (and supposedly higher priority) Citra-PNCC Alignment
road project. Remember that no less than President Aquino has
mandated that both projects be approved posthaste.”
Dax
continues: “After the presentation, the technical team, unprepared
and unaware of the intentions of the DPWH secretary, was asked to
endorse the project for approval of the Cabinet committee ICC.”
I
think they should let both projects get done as P-Noy and Mar Roxas
announced. There may be some cannibalization of market in the start,
but with the rapid growth of Metro Manila traffic and with the growth
in the passenger traffic at the Clark airport from budget carriers,
we may really need both projects anyway.
Cyber
libel
I
got some inquiries why I haven’t written on Cyber Libel. Well, I
have… in my web only weekly column at abs-cbnnews.com.
Here is the
link: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/blogs/insights/10/08/12/libel-not-issue-e-martial-law
Essentially,
I wrote there that as a working journalist, I have been living with
the limitations set by the libel provision of the Revised Penal Code.
Libel is not the issue here. The declaration of e-martial law is.
Our
officials do not understand how social media works. Facebook is one
big virtual Plaza Miranda…or Hyde Park. Everyone is free to express
himself or make a fool of himself there. It is also almost impossible
to police other than self policing by the participants themselves.
Restrictions don’t work, as China and other repressive regimes are
experiencing.
On
the other hand, I have seen social media participants themselves take
down people who have plagiarized or for being such assholes so as to
disturb the quality of the conversations going on.
I
worry about the potential abuse arising from the so-called “take
down” provision, a throwback to life under martial law but worse.
Giving government the power to swoop down and take away computers,
hard drives, thumb drives and even our cell phones, etc on the
flimsiest excuse without a court order strikes at the heart of press
freedom.
Because
such a draconian measure allows government to grab and inspect our
notes and files, our right to protect sources is jeopardized. That
negates the intent of the Press Freedom Law (now known as the Sotto
Law, Republic Act No. 53) enacted in 1946 that protects journalists
from being compelled to name their news sources.
Yes
folks… Senator Tito’s grandfather was no clown. He was a highly
respected legislator and a fierce champion of press freedom.
P-Noy
should have crowd sourced the vetting of this law before he signed it
rather than depending on his Palace legal staff, proven incompetent
several times by a string of losses at the Supreme Court. It isn’t
reassuring that P-Noy cluelessly signed the law and thereafter,
defended his indefensible mistake.
I
don’t think P-Noy realizes it but he has actually declared
e-martial law. Ninoy, the former journalist and a champion of press
freedom and free speech, must be squirming and embarrassed up there
in the great beyond that his son has done something as grievous as
this.
Two
beggars
Cora
Estrella passed on this one. No racial slurs intended, just a joke.
Two
beggars are sitting side by side on a street in Rome. One has a Cross
in front of him; the other one the Star of David. Many people go by,
look at both beggars, but only put money into the hat of the beggar
sitting behind the Cross.
The
Pope comes by, stops to watch the people giving money to the beggar
who holds the Cross while none give to the beggar holding the Star of
David.
Finally,
the Pope approaches the beggar with the Star of David and says, “My
poor fellow, don’t you understand? This city is the seat of
Catholicism. People aren’t going to give you money if you sit there
with a Star of David in front of you, especially when you’re
sitting beside a beggar who is holding the Cross. In fact, they would
probably give him more money just out of spite.”
The
beggar with the Star of David listened to the Pope, smiled, and
turned to the beggar next to him and said, Moishe, would you look
who’s trying to teach the Goldstein brothers about marketing!”
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