Thorough

The investigation into the possible cause for the system-wide failure of our air traffic management system is still ongoing. Nothing is taken for granted, whether this be human error or the possibility of a cyber attack.

Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista expects the investigation to be as thorough as possible. He has built a reputation as an extremely competent manager in his long career in the private sector. He understands how complex organizations work and how human failure can upset the most sophisticated technologi-cal systems.

Bautista had to give up about a dozen board directorships to accept his current government post. That translates into a major income loss. This case is illus-trative of the difficulty of recruiting talent from the private sector. Accepting a government appointment often requires giving up so much to serve the nation.

Fixing our problematic transport sector is a big challenge by itself. Cleaning up governance of our transport sector inflates the challenge all the more. Intro-ducing the needed reforms will meet resistance from embedded interests who profit from the inefficiencies and incompetence that burden the many agen-cies under the DOTr’s wing.

Twice Bautista stood his ground and opposed political appointees in key agencies under his supervision. It is no secret that several groups with vested in-terests are keen on getting rid of Bautista.

The on-going investigation into the shutdown of our airspace on the first day of this year appears to focus on human failure. The failure may be due to the actions or omissions of other parts of government. For instance, Congress had disapproved allocations for equipment upgrade for our air traffic control sys-tem.

Both houses of Congress are set to begin public hearings on the air traffic fiasco. Our legislators should consider their own roles in causing equipment fail-ure in a vital agency.

The pay scales of some of the most technical jobs in our air traffic control system needs some looking into. The entry salary of a CAAP technician is just P14,000 a month, lower than most other skills-intensive government jobs. At that salary grade, the technician is expected to look after billions of pesos worth of sophisticated equipment.

A seasoned control tower specialist is paid all of P44,000 a month. While Filipinos pay the highest prices in the world for onions and sugar, we pay our air traffic specialists the least.

Because of the low pay we give, other countries freely poach from our pool of technical talent. Over the past years, the CAAP has been frantically training new recruits to replenish those choosing to work abroad where they are better compensated for their talents. This, on its own, presents risks for the reliability of our critical infrastructure.

In a word, many factors contributed to the failure that led to that air traffic control shutdown. If our legislators want to be really thorough in their investigation of what happened, they should broaden the inquiry to include those other contributory factors.
Counter-trade

In the last session of Pandesal Forum, panelists discussed the future of Phl-China relations in the wake of President Ferdinand Marcos’ successful state visit.

I asked the panel how we should deal with the paradox of our bilateral relations: the more we grow trade between our two economies, the more lopsided our balance of trade becomes. The only solution to this paradox is, of course, to grow our exports to China. But that brings up the effectiveness of our economic governance. We need clear-sighted economic leadership to build up our capacity to export, especially to the world’s largest consumer economy.

The low-hanging fruit in growing our export capacity is to boost our mineral exports, especially nickel, which is in great demand in China. This path has been blocked the past few years by legal issues as well as the many vulnerabilities of our agencies that regulate this sector. Among those vulnerabilities, needless to say, is corruption.

For instance, a graft complaint has been recently filed before the Office of the Ombudsman by a potential investor against the very head of the Mines and

Geosciences Bureau (MGB). Eugene Co, president of Yinglong Steel Corporation based in Sta. Cruz, Zambales claims that in October 2021 he and his company’s general manager went to the office of MGB director Wilfredo Moncano.

Co claims that the official demanded P10 million to facilitate and release the pending permits. Thinking the amount was an official fee for the release of the needed permits, Co negotiated for a staggered release of the amount. His general manager immediately issued a pay-to-cash check for P3 million.

To their surprise, the check was encashed by Moncano himself on Oct. 9, 2021 at the East-West Bank Davao branch. The MGB official affixed his signature on the check and wrote in his address and phone number. He likewise submitted a copy of his driver’s license for verification.

Needless to say, the paperwork on Yinglong’s permit applications have not moved to this day. It is now clear to Eugene Co that the amount demanded from his company was not official procedure. It is a bribe demanded with his paperwork held hostage.

It is not easy for a foreign investor to file a complaint against a sitting public official. The investor risks vengeance and, probably, the future of his business. But Co went to the ombudsman, nevertheless, armed with the evidence described above.

Incidents such as this one erode investor confidence in our economic governance, explaining why investors tend to avoid the Philippines.