Decay

This week, Thailand was declared the Number One tourist destination in the world.

That is not surprising. Over the past years, the Thais (their wild and wooly domestic politics notwithstanding) put sustained work on building the infrastructure required for a world-class tourism industry.

Bangkok used to be choked in traffic. I remember, when I did work for an international organization in the eighties, I made it a point to arrive in that city by the last flight. Arriving at close to midnight meant the traffic has subsided.

Today, skyways crisscross the city. An integrated mass transit system including subways, light rail, river ferries and buses makes moving around the city efficient in a way unimaginable two decades ago.

The domestic airports in Thailand are state-of-the-art. Air safety is observed at the highest standards. When Thaksin was prime minister, the Thais decided they needed a new, much larger international airport and got that done in no time at all.

Visit Thailand and understand why they get over 20 million tourists a year and we get only about 3 million (Balikbayans included). We might be improving on the marketing side, telling the world it is more fun to come here; but the woeful state of our tourism infra and an iffy peace and order situation cap actual arrivals.

The mishaps of the last two weeks did not help boost our tourism, to be sure.

First, potentially deadly slabs of concrete began peeling off the NAIA terminal building and crashing on the sidewalk below. Industrial-grade safety helmets might soon have to be issued departing passengers to prevent casualties. That can only reinforce the impression that we indeed have the most hated airport in the world. Air conditioning is deficient, the interior is dark and dreary and the toilets still stink. The business class lounges on the second floor could be called anything but comforting.

When Mar Roxas was DOTC secretary in 2011, he promised structural and aesthetic rehabilitation of the NAIA within 18 months. He quickly got money appropriated for that purpose. The 18 months have lapsed and absolutely nothing has been done. Terminal 1, which services the international carriers, truly resembles the gates of hell.

The flyovers and other access roads to the airport facility have been talked about — although, to date, nothing has been bid out. All we have is a lot of talk but no action. The link between the NLEX and the SLEX is in the same situation: talked about, not bid out. The loop between LRT-1 and the MRT has not been closed for no clear reason at all.

Next, a series of failures and one suicide alternately shut down the operations of LRT-1, LRT-2 and the MRT on Edsa. At each instance, it took many hours for the management of these rail lines to restore normality to operations, stranding tens of thousands of commuters.

After that, an explosion rocked Serendra Two at a time when the area, frequented by expats, is most crowded. Three were killed instantly by falling debris from the blast. Residents of the building had to be evacuated. Nearly a week after that incident, we still do not have an official explanation for what happened.

To top it all, a Cebu Pacific plane overshoots the Davao airport runway and then sits there for three long days. The airport, a vital port of entry, was shut down through all that time. Flights to Davao were diverted to General Santos, which has a modern runway but no real terminal building.

The incident, and the flight diversions, uncovered an important and dismal fact: scores of our domestic airports do not have functioning X-ray machines. The manual inspection of bags simply magnified the misery of commuters using our badly ventilated air terminals.

Now we know that not only are our air terminals in such sorry shape, there are not enough equipment on hand to deal with emergencies. The Cebu Pacific aircraft sat awkwardly on the runway because neither the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) nor the carrier had equipment ready to pull the damaged plane to a hangar. The closure of the Davao City airport implied hundreds of millions in economic costs.

When that ill-fated plane overshot the runway, there were no fire or emergency medical crews available to secure the passengers. The passengers remained confined in a damaged plane for too long, in great danger of an engine exploding or fuel catching fire. That is not healthy testimony about the safety of our air terminals.

The Palace quickly washed its hands of the matter, saying this was a Cebu Pacific problem. A deadline was initially set for the plane to be removed, just for the sound bite of it. That deadline, for the sheer lack of equipment, was ignored.

If the nation’s highest authorities did not want to deal with the problem, that torpedoes the confidence of potential visitors to the country. We are basically telling all and sundry that if you travel to this country, you do so at your own risk.

Our air transport authorities were last heard blaming the Procurement Act for the fact that so many of our airports, including half-a-dozen ports of entry, did not have functioning X-ray scans. If that is so, then the law, or at least its implementing rules, might need to be revisited — which is a matter that ought to involve the Palace, if the inhabitants of that place are inclined to work.

The Davao incident is simply an item added to many others suggesting our logistical system is suffering from serious decay. That ought to be a matter that alarms our highest officials.