Eloquence without common sense

The best speeches in the world are easily ruined by one careless comment.

That was once again proven by no less than the Spokesperson for the Duterte Martial Law Administration Brigadier General Restituto Padilla. It seems that General Padilla’s new assignment has affected his better judgment and restraint because at the very beginning of his speech he immediately took a swipe at people who expressed fear and opposition to Martial Law by calling them as “people living in the past.”

Padilla may not have realized it but that single comment totally ruined what was 99% a great opening day performance. It was like giving your guests or the public rotten appetizers before serving them high quality cuisine. In the first place it was not called for, unnecessary and one never wins support with such labels. However much he may disagree with the naysayers or people paranoid with Martial Law, it does not diminish the fact, and the truth, that millions of Filipinos suffered under martial in one way or another. The declaration of Martial Law does not take away the right of people to be afraid and to remind others of evils committed in the past. No matter how benevolent the current administrators may be, the sins of the past are not easily forgotten.

Consider the millions of Jews around the world.Ever since they were targeted for genocide by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, every Jew on the face of the earth actively fights any and all forms of Anti-Semitism. They are not living in the past – they have learned from their past and now use those bitter lessons to preserve and protect their future.Never dishonor the pain and tragedy of people by using careless labels such as “People living in the past.”

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“Walk your customer’s pain.”

I first heard those words from my friend Anthony Pangilinan as he shared his learnings on the program called Blue Ocean Strategy which is also based on the best selling book with the same title. The point of walking your customer’s pain is in order for you to experience and know the needs and difficulties experienced by customers so you in turn can correct, avoid or improve those defects or causes of pain for your customer.

If only for that we should force or require anybody or everyone extending service or making “public” decisions to go through the pain of their customers. Last week I found myself at NAIA-3 waiting for my plane ride to Puerto Princesa. The good part of the journey is that if you check-in online and don’t need to drop off baggage, you can go directly to departure thereby avoiding long lines.But after that I slowly experienced the customer’s pain as the air conditioning system near gate 118 barely did the job. After an hour it was so unbearable that I decided to go to a food outlet one floor below near gate 131 to 133. With hand carry in tow it was uncomfortable but bearable. During all the time, I noticed the “Routine” changes in gate assignments being announced by various airlines.

How crazy, Stupid and unprofessional is that? Every 15 or 20 minutes you hear of a gate change and then a hundred or so passengers get up at the same time and walk in a procession pulling their bags, pushing wheel chairs or struggling with toddlers and PWDs. The real pain on the behind was when a herd of passengers had to go one floor above while our group had to go one floor below. As congested as gates 131 to 133 are, it becomes an arena of mass confusion when two groups switch gates and floors and mix it up at the elevator or escalator. I felt so bad for PWDs and Senior citizens on wheel chairs, mothers with infants and a lady with a cake struggling to keep the product presentable for her family “sa bundok” where there are no cakes.

Who is in charge or in control of NAIA 3?

Is it the government or has the government relinquished operational control to the airlines that arbitrarily announce gate changes like a parking attendant calling drivers? Why bother to print gate assignments if they are unilaterally switched around during pre-departure. Why does the NAIA 3 Management consent or allow what is highly irregular and wrong to be the “accepted Standard Operating Procedure”? The idea behind gate assignments is partly for predictability and efficiency. The current practice might be for practical considerations for airline and airport operations however it also exposes the fact or possibility that there is no actual system or rules being followed or implemented for gate assignments at the NAIA 3. So what is the NAIA-3, just a high class Jeepney terminal?

Sadly local arrivals to NAIA has also started to be like a game of chance or roulette. In the last 4 weeks, 3 of our arrivals to NAIA 3 have been redirected to NAIA 2. Apparently the favorite victims are PAL passengers flying in from Tacloban and Puerto Princesa. Once or twice might be tolerable but if your car or “sundo” is at The other end of the airport complex it is no longer reasonable or acceptable. Yes there is a shuttle transfer but what many don’t realize is that even the shuttle bus is affected by ATC or Air Traffic Congestion because the shuttle bus has to pass through Tarmac used by planes from General Aviation as well as the commercial flights. On the last transfer I took we even got delayed by a Helicopter landing 200 meters near us. On the average, I timed the added delay at 30 minutes. No big you might say unless you happen to be handicapped, elderly or have kids in tow.

Instead of being annoyed by the exposé in print, the airline executives and NAIA-3 Managers should start reviewing their operations and the unprofessional practice of gate and terminal shuffling. You are not in the Casino business – you are in the airline industry.

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