TIME to scratch my head. Asking myself what went wrong. For good nine years, I served in the board of the Clark International Airport Corporation and was one among those who rolled their sleeves to get the airport active and earn revenues for the government. Give credit to Chicos Luciano. It was during his incumbency that the airport really made its takeoff. Luciano, unlike his predecessors who were mostly retired Philippine Air Force generals, was former country manager of Asiana Airlines. He had years of experience tucked in his (seat) belt. He knows the airline business.
I remember we traveled to several countries for roadshows and signed air services agreements. I clearly remember one in particular and that was our trip to Louisville, Kentucky in the USA, where the main hub of UPS was located. We were then competing with other countries like China, Thailand and Vietnam in inviting the biggest parcel service provider. Believe it or not, the choice of Clark stemmed from the stories I related regarding the Fil-Am relationship which I eloquently and graphically presented in a postprandial dialogue. Not only UPS came but one after the other the touch and go budget airlines landed too. We offered them attractive incentives. Later the legacy airlines. At last, the airport was making money. Bundles of it. And suddenly, when it achieved its viability, it was taken over by a private firm, Luzon International Premier Airport Development (Lipad), a Gotianun-led consortium. It is the same Gotianun family that clinched the Mimosa deal. Two big-ticket items for the Gotianun. Ang swerte naman ng mga Gotianun. Business decisions that we don’t understand and maybe to some may be questionable. What gives?
Retro. After the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991, the airport was hardly used. The first commercial flight somehow started in October 2003. The United Parcel Service (UPS) made a daily run of 11 flights. It was an Asiana Airline that experimented with a test flight carrying mostly golfers. Later, regular flights with tourists and investors came. Also, Air Asia of Tony Fernandez started its commercial short-haul flights. (The airline has a new owner, our Cabalen, from Angeles City, Congressman Michael Romero.) Then the legacy carriers. Then the Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, Qatar Airlines and more. Slowly the terminal was upgraded to accommodate more passengers and annual revenues were nearing billions. The services of the corp of engineers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines was sought to strengthen the tarmac just to accommodate the cargo planes. The rest is history.
Fast forward. Last week, Aaron Aquino, the newly minted president of Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC), may be scratching his head also why in heaven’s name the deal with Lipad removed the oversight function of his office. According to him Executive Order 716 mandated CIAC to operate and manage the airport complex. On top of that, it isn’t getting any of the shares of the income that will be generated by the airport complex. Maybe Aquino should start asking Secretary Arthur Tugade because it was the Department of Transportation (DOTr) which gave the Gotianun consortium the franchise to operate and maintain Clark Airport. The last time we heard, he wrote a letter to DOTr. It may have landed on the desk of Tugade and possibly it is still parked there.