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Sunday, October 21, 2012

Is P-Noy OK with RSA's airport?

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Interestingly, RSA had just recently withdrawn San Miguel’s proposal to build a modern terminal at Clark.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!”
Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco

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