Blaming Iloilo airport execs for the ‘sins’ of their bosses

By Alex P. Vidal

“A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.”—Arnold H. Glasow

IF the plane is old and needs an improvement, you don’t fire the pilots and the flight attendants.

If the school building is ramshackle and needs a restoration, you don’t fire the principal and other school officials.

The logical explanation is obvious: there are higher authorities in charge of the problems and whatever issues that need to be resolved should be addressed to them directly.

The pilots, flight attendants, principal, and other school officials are mere employees. Firing them won’t change the situation or resolve the bigger problems.

We don’t punish Juan for Pedro’s fault. We don’t attack the body and expect the head to fall.

Thus, Malacañang should ignore the saber rattling of the Regional Development Council’s (RDC) Infrastructure Development Committee (IDC) which sought for the ouster of senior officials from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP)-Iloilo and CAAP Area 6 supposedly for critical breakdown in management at the Iloilo Airport that threatens to upend its operations.

-o0o-

Chaired by Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas and Ma Luisa C. Segovia, vice president of Iloilo Business Club (IBC), the IDC said it “sees a leadership crisis in the Iloilo Airport; hence, new, responsive, and more active management is needed to address the prevailing concerns,” stated part of the IDC’s Resolution No. 05, series of 2023 passed November 8  during its fourth quarter meeting at the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Regional Office 6, according to reports.

IDC has lamented that Iloilo Airport manager Manuela Luisa Palma and Engr. Eusebio Monserate Jr., acting area manager of CAAP-6, have apparently neglected IDC’s requests for updates on the airport’s rehabilitation.

IDC was worried that the airport is “not in good condition and cannot accommodate the increasing passenger and cargo traffic.”

In a statement, Treñas said: “The air conditioning machines are not working, x-ray machines are not working, the escalator is not working. Even the toilets are smelly. It is no longer the same airport. Furthermore, the passenger terminal is congested. No plans from CAAP national at all.”

If the CAAP national “has no plans”, as stated by Treñas, then the IDC should demand for the ouster or revamp of the CAAP national officials who have direct authorities over such massive job order.

Not the Iloilo airport officials who only have ministerial functions and obligations.

-o0o-

In Gaza, injured children arrive at hospitals with their names scrawled on their arms in case their parents don’t survive.

Food supplies are dwindling amid a total power blackout. Israel has banned fuel shipments, which it says are being hoarded by Hamas, the militant group if vows to destroy. People line up for hours for bread and water, Fares Akram writes in this look at life in Gaza, as reported by Bloomberg’s Balance of Power.

As Israel presses its invasion, with a ferocious bombing campaign, more than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health authorities.

Tens of thousands have protested in cities in Europe and elsewhere calling for an end to the violence.

-o0o-

BEWARE THE FACEBOOK QUIZ. Taking Facebook quizzes and posting our results for the world (or at least our network of friends) from “What Sex and the City Character Ae You?” or “What is Your Vampire Power?” is more than just incredibly lame. It’s also risky, according to the Northern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

DANGEROUS. Egyptian women inserted stones into their vaginas to prevent pregnancy. (It worked kind of like the modern IUD by preventing implantation). They endangered their lives. They could die of infections.

WE ARE NOT SAFE. Our computers have public folders–often storing our music and photos–and they’re easily made available to anyone using the same network. Let’s make sure we don’t keep anything personal in those folders. To be even safer, let’s store any private documents in our computers in a password-protected folder, out of the reach of digital intruders.

LET’S DO IT! QUICK! I just learned that there is a need for us to delete previous network searches if we are determined to outsmart Internet Hackers. Our computers remember every network they connect to, and they will automatically connect to one they recognize.

AUTOMYSOPHOBIA is fear of being dirty. Automysophobics probably want to take a bath three times a day or more. Water supply is a big problem for them.

KOLPOPHOBIA is fear of female genitals. Kolpophobics probably aren’t comfortable in entering the caves because of total darkness.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Ilolio.—Ed)