(The Philippine Star)
Shit didn’t hit the ceiling, but unadulterated raw poo is flowing into the street where cars going to NAIA 1 are inspected by security guards near the departure area. Of course departing passengers can smell that mess. A septic tank overflowed and a NAIA manager told media it was a normal occurrence that happens even in private homes. It has never happened in my private home and even then, private homes don’t have maintenance engineers on staff unlike NAIA. It is simply another graphic example of the utter incompetence of NAIA managers to manage the airport terminal complex.
The stink at NAIA is no longer just figuratively speaking. But consider ourselves lucky they didn’t impose a “fresh air tax” on departing passengers. Venezuelans aren’t as lucky.
Bloomberg reports the airport authorities in Venezuela adopted a $20 “fresh air tax”, a recent imposition on travelers using Venezuela’s Maiquetia International Airport in Caracas. Minister of Water and Air Transport Major General Hebert Garcia Plaza heralded the innovation as a Latin American first, claiming that the ozone-laced air will keep travelers safe by killing airborne germs and stale air.
Well, we may need to deodorize and sanitize the air we breathe in NAIA terminals so they may just get an idea from the Venezuelans. Actually, we can consider that terminal tax and even the travel tax as close equivalents. These are taxes targeted only against travelers.
Paying those taxes is no guarantee of good service, as we all know by now. I was told that last week, a long line of pails met passengers disembarking from their flights because the roof was leaking. Filipino passengers must have been so embarrassed because foreign passengers must have wondered what kind of third world country would welcome visitors that way.
From busted air conditioners to leaking roofs, and now a septic tank that overflowed, are very real examples that should by now convince P-Noy his bosom friend on top of NAIA is no good. But our President is president first and foremost of his close friends and maybe the Filipino people later if there is no conflict.
Here is Professional Heckler’s take on the poo in the street: Malacañang immediately issued a very short statement: Shit happens.
Face it P-Noy! Filipinos, your bosses, deserve a better general manager at NAIA. You know that too, but are just too bull headed to do anything that will hurt the feelings of a bosom friend. Hurting the feelings of 100 million Filipinos, it is par for the course… right, P-Noy?
Justice delayed
Those congressmen who want to abolish the Judiciary Development Fund ought to be ashamed of themselves. Doing this as tit-for-tat over the Supreme Court’s decisions on the PDAF and DAP is simply childish and silly.
What the judiciary needs is more funds, not less. The judiciary needs funds to modernize the whole system of justice. We are talking computers, digital record keeping, decent Halls of Justice and of course, decent pay for the judges and justices.
A recent comment of former Sen Rene Saguisag on the physical state of our courts reveals an obvious area where the Judicial Development Fund can be put to good use.
“We cannot bring a foreign lawyer to City Hall (Manila, say, Branch 19). Baka matetano. QC Hall of Justice, files along corridors and stairways. No majesty of the law at all.
“But my simple focus is how much has been collected in Manila since 1984 and what has been done with it? Can Makati continue to give local judicial personnel allowances, cars, etc.? Or interdicted cross-border?
“I would not mind justices getting a million a month as salary. Do away with the disingenuous Presidential Electoral Tribunal compensation when it has not a single case to handle. Sounds like syndicated estafa.
“The law on the Judiciary Development Fund should be followed. Give every executive judge a quarterly report.
“The CJ has the exclusive power to authorize disbursements of the fund. The COA through the Supreme Court auditor shall quarterly audit its receipts, revenues, uses, disbursements and expenditures and shall submit the appropriate written report to the COA chair and to the CJ, copy furnished the CA presiding justice and all executive judges. I fully trust the CJ – more power – but I verify.
“I caused to be copied the Court of Appeals presiding justice and Manila Makati and Pasay RTC and MeTc executive judges and in particular Manila MeTC-19, to help alleviate their working conditions.”
Indeed, the Supreme Court must make the disposition of its funds a lot more transparent. It will also help if they showed better discretion in spending from that fund other than remodeling their Baguio rest houses and buying expensive curtains for the Padre Faura offices.
Without diminishing the right of the judicial branch to manage its own funds, the taxpayers should also be given proper explanation on how they are spending our money. This is perhaps, a better thing for congressmen to focus on rather than a punitive demonstration of their constitutional power of the purse.
What all three branches of government should work together is the speedy disposition of justice. The quality of our judicial system leaves much to be desired. In fact, one big reason why we are not attracting more investments is the quirky way justice is dispensed here.
The first thing potential investors find out is the reputation of our justice system to be the best that money can buy. Any investor from a country with a serious foreign anti corruption law will immediately hesitate to have anything to do with us.
We are not alone, in this regard. The Economist just published an article about how the Italians appear to have the same problem with their judiciary. “The sluggishness of civil justice is a big reason why the Italian economy is still not growing,” The Economist observes.
According to The Economist, “Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, said that speeding up the courts would be one of the most effective, and least expensive, reforms that Italy could undertake. According to the World Bank’s ‘Doing Business’ survey, it is harder to enforce a contract in Italy than in Haiti and over 100 other countries.”
The story goes on… “The difficulty of debt recovery is a bar to foreign direct investment (FDI), costing jobs and know-how (Italy’s stock of FDI as a share of GDP is the lowest of any big European economy). Court delays also stop firms growing: many prefer to do business only with a circle of trusted customers. A study by the OECD, a rich-country think-tank, finds the average length of a civil suit through all its stages is eight years, far higher than elsewhere…”
Eight years? What are they complaining about? Twenty years is common here in the Philippines. If eight years can bring down the entry of investments in a country like Italy, no wonder we are a basket case in FDI terms.
The Economist relates how Italy’s brand of justice can frustrate an investor. “For a small firm just breaking into foreign markets, it was a big deal: one of Italy’s cities wanted a new leisure facility.
“Then political power shifted and the new council scrapped the project, without any compensation for losses running to around €100,000 ($140,000). The firm’s bosses turned to their Italian lawyer, who advised them to do nothing.
“Why? Because it would take years to come to a judgment and, even if they won, it would not be worth it.”
Sounds very familiar, isn’t it?
Thus, helping the judiciary unclog their dockets, clean up the system of corrupt practices, pay judges and justices above level of corruption, should be on top of our agenda.
There is a good business reason for having a clean and efficient judicial system. But better still, it should make us feel proud that at least one branch of government can be depended on to dispense justice when called upon.
That’s one reputation money cannot buy.
Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco
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