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Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Ledesma: Security lapse and strike at AMS
By Jun Ledesma
Sunbursts
THE management of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) should not take it against the government-commissioned terrorism expert who assayed the quality of security being enforced in our airline domestic terminals.
Instead of grumbling and putting the blame on the sleuth the NAIA manager should have put his house in order and kick out pronto those involved in the sloppy enforcement of security measures.
If I were to believe the news about the incredible feat of the agent who passed through the security details incognito, he carried with him all the possible paraphernalia and accessories that a would-be suicide bomber can take on board the plane and explode the aircraft along with the passengers into smithereens.
Why, he was able to assemble the explosive inside the plane lavatory! But of course this did not happen because, if we were to believe Mayor Duterte, the terrorism expert used dummy explosives.
While the plastic explosives maybe fake and therefore cannot be detected by the sniffing dogs, the rest of the components brought by the "bomber" aboard the aircraft are real. How he was able to sneak through the security detail at the height of double red alert raised on the heels of threat in England is still a puzzlement.
If there is any sense here, it should not be the anti-terrorist expert who should be crucified here but the negligent security agents in the airport as well as the NAIA management.
Even assuming that the bomb component that he smuggled aboard were genuine the more that we demand a stricter enforcement of the security measures and replace the lackadaisical forces that are assigned to secure our airports, the griping NAIA manager included. This breach of security is not a laughing matter, in fact it is more calamitous than the Guimaras oil spill.
* * * * *
Strike! The public is of the impression that the demonstration at the Torres St. at the AMS compound is staged against the AMS Group of Companies.
Some of the demonstrators, obviously unaware of what had happened in AJMR Holding company, are still of the impression that AMS Group is involved in the labor disputes of AJMR. No longer.
The striking workers, I learned, are among those who will lose their jobs precisely because AJMR is about to "collapse" some of the corporations under it as a matter of corporate strategy. In the case of AMS Group of companies, which was placed under the umbrella of AJMR, it merely spins off from AJMR holding. If AMS has any relations at all with AJMR it is because its status is merely limited to just a grower of AJMR.
The decision of AJMR to streamline its operations is understandable as this is aimed at eliminating redundant manpower and to establish a "flatter" organization. The process will result in some casualty and these are the employees who refused separation pay and demanded instead continuous employment.
They also rejected the idea of scheduled batches of employees to be terminated. But of course. Unfortunately, corporations of whatever kind always look at the bottom line figure at the end of the day.
They are mostly concerned of profit and viability. Our friend Bobby Soriano, better known in the business circle as AMS, retired from AJMR as group president.
He later opted to just be a grower of AJMR so that he can concentrate on his own farms. AJMR ties up with Sumitomo Fruits Corporation, which recently infused additional capital to improve on its delivery and cool chain and marketing network.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (September 6, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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