Punchline
The Bulldog and the Bull
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
I am personally elated on receiving the news that our columnist Gonz Duque was elected president of the prestigious Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities. Knowing him, he will not be one to stand idly and simply bask in the honor that the position accords.
Am personally of the belief that Gonz was a bulldog in some English county in his previous life, so I won’t be surprised to see him running roughshod over derelicts in the education sector who refuse to bump the status quo, seeking mainly to protect the commercial interests of the established institutions in the country. For too long, the stewardship of the association was in the hands of the candidate of the school owners in imperial Manila.
Watch the energetic and more imaginative educators in the countryside finally taking the lead in shaping the future of education in our country today, with Gonz, the bulldog, leading the pack.
For a change, let’s hear them announce how they are making their schools more socially oriented, making quality education more accessible to deserving yet economically-challenged students. Enough of regular announcements for increases in tuition fees.
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THAT ELUSIVE AIRPORT. There must be something about airports that have enamored many of our local town executives to aim for their own. From our last count, two towns and two cities want to be the first to host the bevy of flight stewardesses alighting from Boeing and Airbus jets.
While I concede that the presence of an airport in a city or town can speak volumes of the kind of governance and economic activities in the place, its white elephant presence can cut the contrary impression as well. Lest Guv Spines and the mayor-achievers start believing that the presence of a runway will instantly bring in the imagined planeloads of tourists and businessmen in the area, they should examine the factors why Lingayen and Rosales never made the grade. They may be confident that their respective proposed sites will not suffer from the same technical deficiencies and, therefore, their airports will be viable. Right? Wrong.
One very important factor that the proponents continue to miss out on is the commercial viability of airlines to fly in and out of these places. Will it be profitable to schedule flights to these areas? Will there be enough warm bodies and products to fly in and out on a regular basis to sustain scheduled flights to that airport? Will the intended target markets afford the projected airfares? For how long? The bottom-line is – will any carrier have any profitable use for the airport?
Without the economic feasibility studies involving the competing airlines, other technical studies cannot stand on their own and serve as basis to believe that the envisioned airport is viable.
Perhaps the best thing that can happen to a town or city in the province is to have its own airport. In the same vein, the worst thing that can happen to it is to have an airport that nobody uses except for car drag-racing, cattle-grazing, etc… anything but for airplanes’ landing and take-offs.
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Alaminos City may have the edge over Sta. Barbara and Lingayen for a crack at having a full-fledged airport but the city itself by most airlines profitability standards hardly makes the cut.
Its main advantage as a destination is the fact that it hosts the 100 Islands. Other than that, no other real traffic can be developed. The current economic and population profile of Alaminos and neighboring towns alone cannot promise any airline a breakeven operation for it to fly in and out. Realistically, I don’t believe the airlines are ready to serve the destination, not just yet.
Sta. Barbara could perhaps present the best alternative for an airport given its ideal topography and proximity to the cities of Dagupan and Urdaneta. But a study will have to show that there will be enough businessmen and residents who are prepared to cough up a lot for the privilege of cutting travel time to and from Manila or Cebu and Davao by 3 hours or more.
Lingayen, outside of it being the capital, will not likely earn the nod of airlines. It’s still a sleepy town by all standards, and still some distance to 100 Islands, the cities of Dagupan and Urdaneta.
Hence, to have a reality check on those airport dreams, I suggest that a roundtable of airline executives be held for the purpose of establishing the prospect of constructing airports in Pangasinan. Let’s ask them what made them stop flying to many points in the country, and what makes them keep some destinations.
Until then, may I suggest that our achiever-mayors focus on peace and order, elimination of illegal drugs and gambling, promotion of education and food production, cutting of red tapes and wage a no-nonsense campaign against graft and corruption in their backyards.
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MAYOR’S CONTROL OVER POLICE. The PUNCH story in this issue about the refusal of bodyguards of a town mayor to be placed under the jurisdiction of the police, that’s putting it mildly, is enough argument to reject the local executives’ lobby to transfer full control over their police from the PNP to them.
Gleaning from that report, while mayors today only have administrative control over the police, we are already seeing the mayor’s band of thugs arrogantly defying the powers and authority of the town’s police by proxy. Evidently, these bodyguards were either under orders of Mayor Carlos Mapili to resist the police or were simply taught that as mayor’s bodyguards, they are more powerful than the police chief and provincial director combined.
It’d be interesting to see how Chief Supt. Leopoldo Bataoil and Sr. Supt. Isagani Nerez handle the situation. Will they support an embarrassed Senior Inspector Michael Deskeo, officer-in-charge of the Tayug police, in enforcing the law or will they play footsie with the mayor?
If they don’t throw the book at the mayor’s bodyguards promptly, they, not only the Tayug police, will be the region’s laughing stock (taking off from Deskeo’s fears).
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THE DOCTOR VS. THE CIGARETTE-MAKERS. I take my hat off to another Duque, this time it’s Health Sec. Pingkoy Duque.
He is poised to do battle with the biggest cigarette-makers in the world on the billboard ban. Reading his lips, I read “NO FEAR”! His predecessors tried but were no match to the billions of lobby money poured in by the major manufacturers. I can only pray that he will prevail in the end.
While his elder brother Gonz has the doggedness of a bulldog, Sec. Pingkoy has the purposefulness of a raging bull out to ram through obstacles that stand in the way of the country’s health.
Way to go, Mr. Secretary!
(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/punchline/)
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