After several months of enduring poor or non-existent air conditioning, crowded and poorly managed arrival gates, permanent closure of service doors to the multi-level parking, the return of taxi scammers, perhaps it is time for Secretary Arthur Tugade to go to the NAIA Terminal 3 and personally fire whoever is the Operations Manager!
Nothing personal, but I have gone through the said terminal on numerous occasions and last Sunday evening was the last straw. After parking my car on the second level I promptly discovered that the service doors between the parking bay and the terminal remain close and have been closed since June 2017 as a result of the Resorts World shooting. This may be a permanent security measure but disregards the status of Persons With Disability and senior citizens who are forced to take a very narrow stairway with their suitcase in tow. If the NAIA 3 Operations Manager wants to cut cost and heighten security he is doing it at the expense and discomfort of taxpayers as well air travellers who pay terminal fees not to mention rendering useless the architectural and functional design for those doors to lead passengers to FOUR elevators for convenience!
Unable to go directly to the Departure area on the upper level we had to go down to the arrival area, go through X-ray then face the swarm of rushing people coming out of the arrival area. The problem was other passengers had already piled up from earlier flights and were blocking the way. No one from the airport was doing anything to guide or direct people or telling passengers not to block the passageway with their luggage. That part of the so-called terminal looked more like a bus terminal than an “International Airport Terminal.”
After surviving the swarm, we worked our way up to the upper level using the escalator. Thank God we only travel with carry-on baggage because if we had full loads, using the escalator would have been a small challenge. After all that we finally checked in, went through second X-ray and headed for the departure area only to be reminded that NAIA 3 air conditioning has been on the blink for several months! As one passenger put it, the weather outside was cooler than inside the terminal. The only “improvement” were the numerous fans and air chillers placed near the toilets. Why they were placed there I don’t know but the fans barely did anything to improve the tropical temperature we were experiencing. In fact the fans were simply circulating the hot air!
I don’t know who the Operations Manager of NAIA 3 is but even Coupon Taxi drivers I’ve rode with have stated that NAIA 3 is the worst in terms of managing taxis because illegal contractors abound especially when arrivals pile up and the Airport police patrol mysteriously disappear especially in the evening. A few weeks back, I had to wait an hour for a coupon taxi only to discover that there were several cabs but no one was driving up to the terminal until a contractor had already negotiated a deal with exasperated or ignorant travellers willing to pay 1,500 for a trip that costs 550!
On my last two trips I did wonder why the Coupon Taxi booth had been moved behind a pillar, poorly lit and not up front just outside the terminal. Worst of all, the usual OIC or person running the show was no longer there. Instead a couple of guys were arguing about their share from a “kontrata.” The decent drivers believe that NAIA 3 Management intentionally don’t pay attention to the matter to the advantage of colorum or scalawag contractors!
Given how long all of these headaches and incompetence have gone on, may I suggest to the Operations Manager to do the only decent thing he can and RESIGN for delicadeza’s sake. If not, then on behalf of the millions of passengers and locators that have suffered under the mismanagement of NAIA 3, we plead with Secretary Art Tugade to please fire the person!
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It was too good to be true and too good to last. That is how my friend Vincent surmised the momentary high speed Internet service that Metro Manila subscribers experienced during the 50th ASEAN Conference in the Philippines.
Vincent had actually tested and monitored the Internet speed during the conference and was pleasantly surprised that the Telco Duopoly actually managed to provide better than usual service. In fact he was so happy about it that he regularly posted screen grabs of his speed tests. Sadly it was too good to be true and a week after the event packed up, it seems that the duopoly also packed up whatever boosters or enhancers they were using because Internet service is now as slow if not slower like before!
While the Department of Information Technology is still stoking their pipe dream for a third telco provider, can they seriously question or investigate why Internet speed of the two telcos can’t be sustained at the ASEAN Conference levels. If they did it then – why not “now and forever,” or “walang forever”?
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It seems that a party-list congressman did not get “The Memo.”
I remember when President Rodrigo Duterte warned the Judiciary that he and the Executive branch of government will ignore any TROs directed against ongoing projects or biddings that have been awarded! Now comes party-list representative for overseas workers petitioning the Supreme Court to issue a TRO against the Land Transportation Office and not to allow the purchase of eight million plastic license cards.
Just when the LTO has started to gain ground in delivering products and services required from them, here comes a party-list politician meddling in a matter totally unrelated to the primary needs of those he represents. Perhaps a meeting with DU30 would be in order!
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