Today’s headline banners the first Philippine Marketing Plan that is geared towards achieving P2.4 trillion worth of investments. It is a welcome news and I pray that this happen. However, before this happen I would just like to make a pragmatic observation. How can we achieve it if we do not have the infrastructure to welcome the investors? In particular, we have to have a first class and state-of-the-art airport to prove our seriousness to achieve this plan.


Just recently, I blogged about the plight of our airports, I called P-Noy to take a special look on the airport industry. Funny that day after my blog, our airport encountered the breakdown of our NAIA Radar that sent thousands of passengers stranded and flights re-routed to Clark.

I believe that we as a country can achieve the dreams we are all aspiring for – to be a developed nation, but this recent event reeks of incompetence and lack of proactiveness to have redundancy in the area of systems that critical in running an efficient and safe airport.

Again, in this particular industry we have suffered enough from the downgrade coming from US, to the ban implemented by Europe, to the decrepit and ailing NAIA 1 and 2, and now the conking out of the radar.

So amidst the much publicized Philippine Marketing Plan and the target earnings it promised to deliver I feel that it will be more words than action if we will not do something about our airports.

Our airports are the world’s entry to our country. It is the tourists and investors first moment of truth experience of the Philippines and yet our official and businessmen that declare their love for our country seem to be turning blind in confronting the airport maladies.

Just recently, Singapore experienced its first flood in the Orchard Road, and yet a day after this catastrophe, the officials and department assigned to monitor such disaster came out and apologize. To think that Singapore only experienced this incident only now, not often as we do, but their government officials and our government officials have disparate value system.

A change in the government leadership is a positive change; I pray that my ranting turns to praising in the end. I know Filipinos can do it and we can do it. The first step is a massive improvement with our airports that will make us proud and clap our hands symbolizing we have arrived in the center stage of the world.