"air-fart"

We just came back from our much-needed vacation to the Philippines. And our time back home was nothing less than fantastic - meeting family and friends, being greeted by warm filipino smiles, hearing tagalog everyday. Oh, priceless is the breath of fresh air punctuated only with the every-now-and-then whiff of fresh carabao dung. Our inang bayan is such a relaxing place to be if you would just learn to shut yourself off from the fact of high oil prices (which translates to high fares, high prices of basic goods, high cost of living, high-blood and high mortality rate), exorbitant nlex toll-rates (yeah, im getting personal here!), killer traffic jams (not to mention killer kotong cops), and despicable politicians more adept at comedy than statescraft. Oh, well... i know, much sarcasm is detected here and pardon me for it. I guess it takes a whole lot of internal strength just to consciously be able to shut all these off your senses and be able to relax in the Philippines. As one friend quipped, "ganda sana ng Pilipinas, gobyerno lang nakasira sa byu" (the Philippines should have been a beautiful place, if not only for the governement who ruined the view). Again i know, much value judgment is detected here and pardon me for it. but I guess it won't take so many years of living in the Philippines to understand that such a low estimation of the government is not without reason.

Which brings me to my recent brush with the dark side of the port. We took the tigerairways flight from Clark here to singapore. The trip was rather uneventful. Even though the airliner has none of the amenities offered by the more established PAL and SIA, it was ok because the fare was just about 10-15% of the usual fare by these standars airlines. And so the trip was ok. BUT THE CHECKING IN TO THE AIRPORT WAS NOT. First, we submitted our luggages for x-ray. we had three big bags and each one went through the machine without glitch. The bag I carry, which contained my laptop, iPod, PDA, a digicam and a videocam, was also asked to be put inside the machine for check. I went through the sensor and was frisked. when we were to collect the luggages, lo and behold the laptop case was not with them. and so i called the attention of the man operating the machine and said, "Boss, meron pang naiwan" (Boss, something is still inside). To which he replied, "ay, meron pa ba?" (Oh, is that so?) after which he pushed something and out went the laptop case. Sensing his evil desire to defraud me of my personal belongings, I immediately readied my light-saber of a mouth. As I was getting ready to decapitate him with killer expletives, my wife Lisa held on to me and said, "the way to the dark side, anger is. To the counter, go we must, pay the travel tax, we should."

But you see, the reason for my pain is the fact that the x-ray guy knows pretty well that something is still inside the machine because the x-ray monitor in front of him is turned on. If the guy is really not paying attention to the things passing through that x-ray machine, then he should be fired for it. This is precisely because these machines are there for the purpose of security. You are supposed to be aware that something is passing through. What if there is a bomb, and your inattentivity caused it to be left there - inside the very same machine that should have detected it. Then you would have died in all the glory of your stupidity. Sadly, others would have died with you. So you see, the guy knows pretty well that something is still left inside. Indeed, something valuable, which makes it all the more tempting to feign inattentivity. Anecdotal experience shows us that this is not an "extraodinary" happening on Philippine ariports. How many bags have been "misplaced", "eaten" by x-ray machines? How many luggages have been pilferred like mails? How many pasalubongs have been "lost" in the process of inspection of taxable goods in the airport? And each new story that bears resemblance to these stories of the past adds to the collective wound that makes it even more irritatingly painful. Parang kuto. inis na inis ka sa kati. kamot ka ng kamot pero di mo alam uumpisahan kung saan. At maski wala ng kuto, pag may nangati sa ulo mo, akala mo kuto pa din.

And that is what has happened to our airports. It has embraced for itself a new culture that seems to be quite different from the usual way things are done elsewhere outside it. The culture is that of greed. The underlying assumption is that anyone who passes through its portals have wads of money to throw away. And the sad part is that the government does not show any care at all to rebuke this misguided assumption. For all its worth, me thinks it even has a foundational role in the stablishment of such a culture. Imagine paying 100 pesos for a small bowl of Goto (congee). Only in the airport. Why such exorbitant amount? I think because the concessionaires are hard-pressed to come up with the monthly pay for rent. Well, the government jacks up the rent for airport spaces because they know that business people will pay for airport spaces. And pay, they will because they know that they can jack up the price of congee like it comes from outer space. And so the underlying assumption really is, anyone who passes through its portals have wads of money to throw about.

And don't feel left out, there's plenty of greed to pass around. Ever hear them immigration guys greeting you "Merry Christmas" while slowly browsing through your passport, trying very hard to slowly find some space to stamp your arrival date to? I could almost here them call me, "Ninong"! And how about those who stall for time while browsing through your papers when you are merely going for a holiday, say in Hongkong or Singapore? They give you a hard time going out of the country by saying that... "hmmm, so this is your first time? Mahirap 'to" (this is hard). Bakit mahirap? E sa talagang first time ko mag holiday sa ibang bansa eh. Papano ko magkakaroon ng first time kung di mo ko papayagang umalis?" (how could i have a first time if you will not let me go?). "Magtatrabaho ka no?" (You will look for work?). Taemomabaho pare, kababayan moko, bat ang baba ng tingin mo sakin? Masama ba lumabas ng bansa? Feeling mo di ko kaya? Feeling mo magti-TNT nako? Sa pag uugali mo, dapat nga mag TNT nako. What makes this darn difficult to swallow is the FACT that others who do work illegally, say as GRO's in nightclubs in Singapore and Hongkong are passing the immigration check in the Philippines no frills at all. Why? because certain "agents" and "talent managers" are in cahoots with airport immigration officials. "Ang lagay eh..." Concerned ka ba sa safety ko kung magti-TNT ako? E bat di ka concerned dun sa safety nung kababayan nating pinay na pinalagpas mo samantalang alam mo kung anong gagawin nya dun sa bansang pupuntahan nya?

The way I see it, an airport is like a door to a home. such a place should be made attractive so that those who come in would have a foretaste of what is to come and those who go would have the desire to come back. This culture of greed at our airports does not reflect the wonderful cluture of the filipino people. We do well to find ways and means to begin the change which we as a nation so badly need. And we do well to begin this change at our airports, the doors to our beautiful country. It is not enough that we put Madame's huge smiling posters at the walkways of the arrival area. From my perspective, that does not help at all.