Crime surge and impunity

This is a story which can only happen because of utter incompetence and mismanagement of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

When my balikbayan son Vic and his wife Gail decided to take a Winter Grand Package Tour of Japan via Philippine Airlines and after a five-stay in Tokyo, they arrived via PAL that dropped them off at Naia at almost 11:45 p.m. They were told to get their luggage at Carousel 4.

They alighted via the route they took off, with all other  passengers. Nobody was around to show them the way; there was no security guard in sight. When the passengers turned left following an “arrival” sign and took the stairs down, they soon found themselves at the PAL domestic arrival area, wondering where immigration and customs officials were. Since the domestic are has only three carousels, there was no carousel no. 4.

A guard wondered where they came from, and when he was told they came from Tokyo, the guard only scratched his head and told them they were in the wrong area, and pointed to where they came from. The passengers started cursing and wondering what kind of an airport we have. They hurriedly went through the same passageway they came from, and finally arrived at the PAL international arrival area and through immigration and customs.

No wonder Naia is labeled one of the worst airports in the world—passengers can get lost because of lack of security! It would have been worse if there were aliens who could get out of Naia without the necessary immigration papers. Only in the Philippines, as they say.

Well, my gulay, if guards run away upon hearing gunshots, and if somebody can be assassinated in broad daylight because  are no CCTV cameras, and if passengers get lost because there is nobody in sight, then it’s really time for airport manager Jesus Angel Honrado to resign. 

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We have only just begun a new year and already police blotters are heavy with reports of criminal activities ranging from petty theft, carnapping and assassination.

It all started with the bedlam on New Year’s Eve. Stray bullets from guns fired by irresponsible elements killed children. And then, there was the spate of shootings all over Metro Manila, all committed in full view of witnesses.

There are also the numerous cases of carnapping by criminal syndicates whose ringleaders, while known to the police, remain scot-free even if some of these car robberies involved murders.

A climate of impunity encourages the criminals to keep doing what they have been doing. The inability of law enforcement, investigation and prosecution arms of the criminal justice system emboldens these lawless elements. The justice system even seems to encourage the surge of criminality because of “due process”, resulting in the delay of justice to the aggrieved.

At this point, I am reminded of another blatant case of justice delayed and justice denied. It involves one Richard Lee, himself a member of the Department of Justice’s National Prosecution Service as assistant provincial prosecutor of Masbate.

According to the information filed against him early May last year, Lee was supposed to sign a settlement agreement with his former employer, Fortune Medicare Inc. (FortuneCare) at the offices of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) in Quezon City. Instead of complying with the formalities, Lee suddenly was reported to have grabbed a brown envelope containing the settlement money of P2 million, and ran out of the NLRC office, aided by two armed men to make a getaway.

For over two years now, criminal charges of theft and robbery have been pending against Lee at the Metropolitan Trial Court in Quezon City. Administrative charges have likewise been filed against him before the DOJ for violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees. FortunateCare has also sought his disbarment for conduct unbecoming a lawyer.

In fact, I have commended DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima for her quick action on having the case filed against Lee, and for promising speedy action.

Sadly, promises are meant to be broken since the cases against Lee have remained unresolved. He has not even been suspended from his post.

The climate of impunity is what encourages criminality to thrive and reign. Clearly, there’s need to strengthen the country’s justice system to protect law-abiding and peace-loving citizens.

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Local and foreign investors are monitoring closely the ongoing controversy over the public bidding of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport. This could spawn fear and uncertainty for the Public-Private Partnership program of this administration  and the P17.5-billion project. The speedy resolution of this dispute is crucial to the realization of the PPP program.

Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Jun Abaya has defended the award of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport project to the consortium of India’s GMR Infrastructure Limited and Megawide Construction Corp., a local firm, having won the bid with its offer of P14.4 billion as against Filinvest-Changi’s second-highest bid of 13.999 billion.

Filinvest-Changi claims that GMR-Megawide violated the conflict-of-interest provision in the Terms of Reference for the bidding since it appears that managing director of Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhard (MAHB), which is also bidding for the Mactan-Cebu project in partnership with First Philippine Airports, is also a director in four other companies of the GMR Group that is managing and operating four international airports abroad.

This means in effect that the Indian conglomerate has ties with two consortia which are also bidding. The two are GMR-Megawide and the MAHB-Philippine Airports. Santa Banana, this is definitely a no-no in bidding. It’s a clear conflict of interest!

My gulay, the TOR reportedly includes a post-qualification provision that enables the DoTC’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) to verify and further validate the statements, claims and disclosures of a bidder. This post-qualification provision strengthens the ability of the BAC to prevent any possible collusion or manipulation of the bidding process. That’s why I cannot understand why Abaya was defending the GMR-Megawide bid.

In a sudden turnaround, Abaya now says that in the event a declared highest bidder is found to have violated any bidding rule and is disqualified, there will be no rebidding for the project. Instead, they will consider the offer of the second-highest bidder and subject it to the whole process, including the post-qualification stage. This is but logical.

Aside from following the TOR rules, I cannot foresee an improved Mactan-Cebu International Airport with an Indian infrastructure consortium having only lesser known projects to its name. There is a need for consortia known for their track record, like Changi of Singapore.

We all know that winning bidders are not always the best!

Crime surge and impunity