Funny how time goes by. I’m way behind on my article writing here, and for that I can only say, sorry ‘bout that, retirement is a lot busier than I thought it would be. I started to write the sentence “a few days ago” and then I looked at the dates … turns out that over a month ago, friend Bob wrote an interesting article, Is the Philippines turning off tourists? | Live In The Philippines . For those who haven’t read it, the thrust of the article is kind of a contrast between the millions and millions of Pesos spent every year on government promotion of tourism in the Philippines and the many little, often very low cost places where the Department of Tourism seems to fail in paying attention to their overall mission.
Well last Saturday afternoon, the Department of Tourism got a wake up call a little stronger than Bob’s article. The Philippine Secretary of Tourism Joseph “Ace” Durano and his family were on a Cebu Pacific Airlines flight landing at Legazpi City airport (Legazpi City is on the island of Luzon in the Bicol region, a frequent tourist destination because of it’s proximity to Mt. Mayon, one of the Philippines’ many natural beauty treasures).
The Airbus A-320 aircraft with 80 passengers and a crew of 5 was on a regularly scheduled flight and received its clearance to land from the airport control tower. Just as it touched down the pilot noted a Toyota van on the runway ahead of him. Making a split-second decision the captain of the flight “poured the coal” to the engines and took off, narrowly missing what could easily have been a fiery disaster claiming many lives. (Technically this type of safety incident is termed a “runway incursion”, and it’s one of the most deadly things that can go wrong in aviation … Tenerife, for example, the deadliest accident in aviation history was also runway incursion incident).
Wow! I’m glad the Secretary and everyone else is safe, and hats off to Captain Nowicki, who proved once again why airline pilots earn their money. A “balked landing” like he executed is a dangerous maneuver in and off itself, but it posed less risk than a possible collision with a one ton-plus van which could have killed the van occupants and everyone on the aircraft.
So, what happened here? Was the certificated air traffic controller in the tower “asleep at the switch”? Nope, His actions appear to have been flawless. The pilot, too, was following all proper procedures, and obviously keeping a sharp lookout. So that kind of leaves us the van driver.
Probably some poorly educated fellow trying to earn some money to support his starving family who got confused and wandered out on the runway by mistake? No. Perhaps some college boy who had too much to drink and wouldn’t know a runway from a swimming pool on a joyride? Nope. Aha, a suspected criminal making a daring attempt to escape from pursuing police? No, wrong again.
The van driver was the son of the director of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Frisco Santo Domingo. I mean the fact that your dad was the chief of civil aviation in the Philippines might not make you an expert on all aspects of flying, but one would imagine that at least he was aware that runways are for airplanes and roads are for cars, no? Turns out the guy was teaching his girlfriend how to drive and apparently considers the taxpayer built and maintained property of the government his personal domain to do with as he pleases. Talk about a misguided sense of entitlement a a total disregard for the G.M.R.C he was supposed to have studied in school.
It is particularly troubling to me to see this disregard for safety because his father was put into office less than two years ago to clean up and “fix” glaring safety and integrity issues which caused the ouster of his predecessor in the wake of a damming FAA Safety report and downgrade of the Philippine commercial aviation international safety rating. The Palace puts a “troubleshooter” into office and he doesn’t even expect his own family to follow the rules? Sad.
I’ve heard rumors for time to time that people in Malacañang (the Philippine “White House”) and other high places read this blog. How true that might be I have no idea, but just in case, Secretary Durano, feel free to consider this an “open letter” from a guy who lives here in your country, cares a lot about the country and its people and supports your efforts in promoting tourism 100%. A lot of Filipinos apparently subscribe to the “sweep the bad things under the rug” theory, even going so far as to tell foreigners, “Go to hell” if you don’t like it here. Well this isn’t about what i like or don’t like, it’s about a very real issue that the Philippines needs to address “yesterday,” and is demonstrably failing to address in terms of action, not words.
Secretary Durano, hardly a week goes by that I don’t see you on TV or in the newspapers, spreading the tourism message for the Philippines, negotiating a multimillion dollar hotel deal with foreign investors, or some other noteworthy success. I salute you, Sir, for your successes and your obvious desire to do your job diligently and serve your country well. Indeed the Philippines could use some more public servants with your energy, enthusiasm and drive.
But I notice a disturbing tendency, from the outsider’s point of view, you seem to overlook the “simple” things about tourism. Before the furniture in a tourist’s hotel room are upgraded, his or her basic safety and convenience ought to be addressed, or so I would think. Significantly missing from the news reports of the Legazpi incident were any comments from yourself, as the senior representative of the national government present. As a foreigner, I don’t have to make any negative comments regarding the day-to-day air safety practices in the Philippines, Albay Provincial Governor Joey Salceda pretty much summed it up for me and I am sure many others:
“ … such violation of basic safety rules is a disgrace to our rising reputation as a tourism destination, a disservice to the riding public and temporary setback to our tourism effort,”
I’ve watched with interest to see anything on TV network news about this incident, or any official response from your office. Perhaps I missed it in all the news of beauty pageants, nation-wide auditions for “Pinoy Big Brother” and Doctora Vicki Belo’s San Diego traffic misfortunes, but this certainly seems an issue worth at least as much attention as new hotel complexes being built. Or so it might appear to some.
So what happened to the kid ?? was he arrested for being on the runway , would of in the states ? … Phil n Jess
Dave: This incident was pure, unadulterated idiocy on the highest order. Rather than cover it up, a strong example needs to be made of the van driver.
Hi Dave – The thing that I find most interesting about this case is that there has basically been no coverage of it in the news. There are a few (very few) newspaper articles that have been buried deep inside papers with no exposure. I have seen no TV coverage. This should be a major story in the news here, but it is not.
By the way, only somewhat related… you mentioned the downgrading of the safety rating that the US did to the Philippines several years ago. Remember, it was said at that time that there would be major changes made, and the rating would be upgraded in only a few months time. That is the last I ever heard of it. As far as I know, the Philippines is still rated at the lower rating, but I am not sure. Do you have any updated information about this that I missed? I am not even sure how to find out what the status is on this case.
Hi Dave – All government "troubleshooters" around the world seem to use their own feet as targets of opportunity!
BTW, Asawa-ko & I had our honeymoon in Tenerife a week after that incident. They had already sorted out the plane parts, big and small, into separate areas off the side of the runway. It was a little "fascinating" to watch people work on life-sized airplane jigsaw puzzles while you're landing right next to them!
As for the son – he'll probably start using an official vehicle so that he can "officially" be on the tarmac! 😆
i didn't know about this either. but i sure see it happening & not the bit surprised that it was done by a "chief's" kid. happens ALL the time.
in a related case, the gov't is working on a "tourism stimulus plan" to make the country compete with it's neighbors. the disparity in numbers for tourist visits is surprising. here's a link:
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/edito…
I have just "googled" this. Perhaps this is the answer to your q.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/na…
Kamusta ka Dave,
Very good story Dave, of course I have never heard of this incident until now reading about it. This really doesn't surprise me, and also saddens me too. I am sure you are right about the result of what will happen to this young man, I am sure it will be just a "slap on his wrist" for him, and brushed under the carpet.
I have experience at working on flight lines, and tarmacs, here in the USA, practically grew up at Andrews AFB, and as a young adult worked as a government contractor on Patuxent Naval Air Station, Md., and yes I had a "flight line drivers license" which consisted of a 2 hour video to watch, and then they issue you a license..lol. I was always surprised they didn't have more accidents at that military installation, because of the "handheld radios" the tower would give you were the worst, and could hardly understand what they were saying..whether it was to "hold short"…or "proceed" on the runway. It always amazed me that there were still parts of the tarmacs that the civilian and military traffic had to "yield" to the aircraft, it didn't happen often, but there were instances of civilian traffic running into aircraft while they were taxi-ing to the flight line. For me it was simple, I never tried to "beat" a F-14 that was coming at me, and of course just waited for it to pass…lol.
Anyways, another great article, about what a little common sense can do for us all.
Salamat,
Danny
Hello, Dave. Thank you for raising a very important issue. In the Philippines, the abusive ones are those who belong to the higher echelons of high society. This isn't a strange story, but a normal one. Many wealthy Filipino families or family members are usually the ones who disregard, disrespect, abuse and misuse their privileges. Why? They think it is their privilege to flaunt the rules, laws, regulations of the land–and they get away with it–even murder!
A couple of months ago, six rich spoiled brats from posh Alabang were arrested for drug-dealing. What did their rich parents do? They hired the best lawyers, had a word with a judge, to keep it hush-hush, no doubt, and if these rich young men were identified positively, to be given a "light sentence" since these rich parents were ready with their Bribery money.
This is the biggest bane in Philippine Society; rich powerful families getting away with their unchallenged behavior. To cut the story short, the lawyer handling the case was found to have been bribed…
There is a catalogue of abuse and sometimes, confusion about corruption seems to cross boundaries. Many of the corruption going on in the country are made by non-elected appointed politicians and their hangers-on, and of course members of high society. Actually, the majority of the elected politicians are law-abiding people.
Somehow, Filipinos seem to forget this fact.
In the 70's, a famous Filipina actress was raped by six young rich men. But this was the first time that they were all convicted and thrown in jail—for life!
The judge, Judge Santiago became an icon. She became my idol. She was fair, pure, incorruptible. Shame we do not seem to have her kind anymore. Thank you for your constructive article. Hope many Filipinos read it.
HiDave,
Everyday. i read philippine news online. and i mean all of the newspaper there is, (tabloid, mags) but i didnt see this one. The kid is stupid, and the father ought to be whipped his a…Oh well, thats the reality of being a politician there. its always, "its not what u know there. its who you know"
Since the 1960 to 70's up to now, did u notice that those in the politics are the same people? my God theyre old and grey and still there sitting in the govt. when will they all retire and give up that dirty seats? i guess theyre waiting for their children to grow older and pass on their thrones.
Hi Dave!
I read about this a few days ago on GMA news website. Here is the link.
hello, could you charge estafa to an ex-bf who used your credit card with your consent when both of you are still together in the relationship with the promise to pay all his debts? we're no longer together and i have a difficulty of making him pay what he still owes my credit card.
thanks.