An incompetent airport manager

For over a month now, the central air-conditioning system at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 3 has not been functioning.

Passengers, especially those in the departure area, are suffering from the heat, especially since it is summer.

Last Saturday, I saw many of my fellow passengers fanning themselves to ease their discomfort. Many were sweating profusely.

But nobody at the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa), which runs the Naia 1, 2, 3 and 4 terminals, cares whether people faint from the heat, as long as their executives are in their air-conditioned rooms at Naia Terminal 1.

Even Miaa General Manager Jose Angel Honrado, who’s supposed to look after the comfort and safety of arriving and departing passengers, doesn’t seem to care.

“Honrado doesn’t visit us here, so how can he know this place is so hot?” said a security guard assigned at Naia 3.

Honrado, who is called names by his subordinates behind his back for allegedly not knowing how to run an airport, is safe in his comfort zone because he happens to be President Noy’s relative.

The Miaa official is a retired Air Force general who was an aide to President Cory Aquino when he was a young officer.

As aide, one of his jobs was carrying the President’s handbag, instead of flying a plane like his fellow officers.

He’s an example of a square-peg-in-a-round-hole official and typifies many appointed officials in the Aquino government today.

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Honrado probably thinks that making the rounds of the four terminals is beneath him since he’s a former Air Force general.

That’s why when he goes out to dine in classy restaurants he has a full complement of bodyguards befitting a military general.

Now, who would want to harm an official holding a noncontroversial position such as that of Naia general manager?

Unless he’s afraid of irate plane passengers.

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Another guy in the P-Noy administration who looks like he doesn’t know what he’s doing is Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya.

Almost all the airports in the country have defects: malfunctioning X-ray machines, stinking toilets, leaking roofs, faulty air-conditioning systems, etc.

Where does the money each passenger shells out for terminal fee go? Isn’t this supposed to fund airport maintenance?

Perhaps Abaya can answer these questions.

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On June 15, all small town lottery (STL) contracts with the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) will expire.

Another form of legal gambling has been proposed to take the place of STL: Bingo Milyonaryo (millionaires’ bingo).

An STL owner, who has connections with a relative of P-Noy, wants the new gambling system centralized throughout the country.

There’s a big possibility the proposed set-up will be approved since the President reportedly cannot say no to this relative.