Night flyers

FLY-BY-NIGHT. The very derisive term finds most fitting appropriation to tour and travel agencies that have flocked like bees to the honeycomb that is the Clark Freeport area.
Yeah, night flyers too – as in vampires – that suck to the last drop the blood of the innocent traveller.
Camp followers – like the prostitutes of old – are these unscrupulous traders wanting to make the fastest buck at the least or nil cost out of the burgeoning opportunities at the Clark International Airport.
The low-cost carriers proffered as their stocks-in-nefarious-trade to the born-every-minute-suckers lulled with the promise of paradise – at cheap, cheap prices – in exotic yet not-so-distant places.
Their modus operandi: tour and travel agency easily put up by proprietor multi-tasking as manager, clerk, booking staff, cashier, receptionist, janitor who arranges not only the ticketing needs of the client but venture into visa requests complete with the acquisition of fake bank accounts, fake income tax returns, fake TCTs attesting to fake real estate ownership – the works, that is.
Filipinas – not necessarily only the denizens of Fields Avenue – seeking marriage to their foreign fiancées make the bulk of the unwitting victims of these conmen, conwomen too, to be gender equal. Hard earned pesos paid for the pursuit of dreams that never come true make the most heart-rending sob stories now being told and retold over beer at the city’s foremost avenue.
The dubious and devious deals of these bogus agencies have impacted so much on the tour and travel industry that the integrity of even the most established travel firms has come under suspicion by the travelling public.
There is a need to stop this nefarious trade.
Comes now the call of the Alliance of Travel and Tour Agencies of Pampanga (ATTAP) for the Angeles City government to be more circumspect in issuing business permits to travel agencies.
Solve the problem where it starts. ATTAP simply states there.
Putting up a tour and travel agency is as easy as putting up a sari-sari store, a taho or fish-ball stall, or a mobile phone e-loading venture. What with the same basic requirements for the grant of business permits.
In a resolution sent to the city government, ATTAP enjoined the city to adopt and thereafter strictly implement the guidelines set by the Department of Tourism (DOT) for travel agencies, even as it proposed requirements to rationalize the issuance of business permits.
Gilda Padua, ATTAP president, said her intention in coming up with their resolution is to professionalize the industry as their contribution in attracting more tourists under the DOT’s initiative.
“This will also be one actualization of DOT’s new slogan ‘It’s more fun in the Philippines’ as it shall weed out the unscrupulous travel agencies that give a black eye to the industry,” Padua added.
Among the proposed requirements for the city government to adopt are: company profile, organizational chart, list of employees, list of suppliers, endorsement letters from international and local tour operators and airlines, proof of industry record of owner or general manager of at least five years working experience in a reputable travel agency, bank certificate showing financial capability of at least P500,000 capital investment, picture and location of office, and sample of tour packages.
Yes, no fly-by-night ventures can be set up under such rigorous requirements.
DOT Regional Director Ronnie Tiotuico has thrown his full support behind the ATTAP initiative.
“I agree with ATTAP to professionalize the industry beginning with enforcing the rules,” said the brains behind the Pinatubo trek and co-founder of the hot air balloon fest.
The ball is now in the hands of the city government.
Score big on this one, please.