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Friday, September 08, 2006
Tulabut: Luciano and piracy
By Noel G. Tulabut
My Palm Notes
HE DESERVES no other way but up.
The appointment of Chichos Luciano as president and CEO of Clark International Airport Corp came as no surprise. Not to me and other people who have kept a keen interest at how Clark officials poured out efforts just to give life to the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA).
Let’s admit it people, and let’s give credit where it is due. Luciano is almost solely responsible for bringing flights to DMIA. At the onset of his service as CDC executive vice president in 2001, he pursued commercial airliners and convinced their operators that DMIA is viable. And he succeeded.
This success is not his alone, but is also for each and every Clark stakeholder -- the citizenry included -- who is seeing how Clark is taking a big leap now.
Luciano is responsible for mounting Manila flights of Asiana Airlines. He is also widely credited for bringing various passenger and cargo airlines that include international and regional flights by Asiana Airlines, Air Asia, Tiger Airways, China Rich, Far Eastern Airlines, Thai Air, and Trans Global. He has also successfully negotiated for the expansion of United Parcel Service which had designated Clark as its intra-Asia hub.
The result? Generation of flights which ultimate benefit is make Clark live up to its role as a premier international gateway plus of course the convenience for tens of thousands of foreign and Filipino tourists, OFWs and other travelers who fly to various destinations in Asia.
Also tucked under Luciano’s belt are the successful negotiations for air entitlements for the country as he represented CDC and CIAC in the RP Air Panel in Washington, Tokyo and South Korea and other venues. Other air entitlements that he pursued for Clark include flight arrangements with Bahrain, Vietnam, United Arab Emirates, United States, among others.
Luciano has vigorously led campaigns for the implementation of an Open Skies Policy for Clark, an initiative that has led to the issuance of Executive Order 500 and Executive Order 500-A which has liberalized the air transportation industry in the Philippines. The latter, of course, was a collective effort with Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan who is Subic Clark czar and CIAC EVP Alexander Cauguiran.
* * * * *
Call center operators and government officials should sit down soon and come out with measures and policies against piracy of customer service representatives or agents. They should get their acts together in order to save the call center industry.
If not, the Philippines will be losing the industry to competitors like South Africa, Pakistan and even China. There is now a growing annual attrition rate. From 3 percent in 2001, it is now at 30 percent, which is still a conservative estimate.
Don’t look now but there is a growing shortage of QUALIFIED manpower in the call center industry. This is the very reason why piracy is thriving in Metro Manila. In Clark, soon, we may have to face that problem in the eye.
What made me say that? Here’s a sample extrapolation.
The annual need for call center workers is 100,000. The hiring rate as experienced by call center operators is at a maximum of 5 percent. Now, the country produces about 600,000 graduates every year on the average. To apply the 5 percent hiring rate, what do you get? You get only 30,000 qualified or would-be workers in call centers. So, where do you get the balance of 70,000 workers? The answer? Pirate workers.
If this is not arrested, the 106 call centers in the country will be grappling for skilled workers. It’s like fishing at the frying pan and not in the deep seas. And the government should not tolerate that.
(September 8, 2006 issue)
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