Tulabut: Support

HE DESERVES to remain in his post. Undoubtedly.

While he could easily blend back to private sector where he came from, Chichos Luciano -- president and CEO of Clark International Airport Corp -- is the kind of professional executive who is needed to push for Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA).

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Should the new administration let go of this wonderful man, the government would be losing someone who is more than competent and efficient to do the job for DMIA.

I have to be frank about it and I owe no one some excuses for saying that but this man -- let us face it -- has superbly done Clark and DMIA a lot of good things. I may sound now like a broken record here but I can go over once again the list of what he has accomplished. The significant ones at that.

He brought the airlines to DMIA. As a former executive of Asiana Airlines himself, Luciano made full use of his network in the airline industry to take a look at DMIA. His convincing power that made Asiana to mount Clark flights few years ago has paid off. Not only did Asiana succeeded in its daily Clark flights (there was even a time it went doubly daily), but other airlines followed suit: Malaysia’s Air Asia, Singapore’s Tiger Airways, and, our very own Cebu Pacific, among others.

Luciano was also successful in getting entitlements in air talks with other countries including the United States. Again, let us face it once again that Mr. Luciano’s leadership also reaped results for DMIA as it obtained significant number of seats and flights in air talks with various countries.

On the administrative side – people handling, managerial acumen, resource management, etc. -- Luciano is also credited for a lot of positive developments at CIAC.

With all that he has done for DMIA, I am not surprised at all that hundreds of CIAC employees have signed a manifesto of support for this man, a Cabalen.

Some 200 of about 350 CIAC workers (majority at that) have come out to openly express support for Luciano. Their message? Collective opinion that Luciano should be retained at CIAC.

The employees who filled up nine pages of bond paper writing their own names and affixing their signatures single-spaced, did not only cite an improvement of their own welfares but have also cited what Luciano had achieved for DMIA and Clark. And these are no ordinary employees, by the way They represent a cross section of the CIAC workforce from Managers, Assistant Managers, Supervisors, Rank and File, down the line.

“Kailangan pa siya ng CIAC para maging tuloy-tuloy ang progreso nito,” one of the lines stated.

The manifesto is an open rebuke to those who want him out of CIAC who say that Luciano no longer enjoy the support of CIAC employees.

What is significant about this manifesto is the fact that the employees did not only say that Luciano should be retained in CIAC. They also went further by taking his side in the recent brouhaha on the scrap issue.

They said that issues thrown at Luciano are part of a demolition job.

In such an explicit way, they said: “hindi kami naniniwala sa mga paninirang ibinibintang at ibinabato sa kanya.”

With this manifesto, it is now clear to me who has the overwhelming support at CIAC and it is Luciano. Attempts to ruin the man and to boot him out are now becoming a futility if not creating backfires.

As they always say you cannot put a good man down.