Blissful ignorance

“ANG PAGTATAG  ng maraming negosyo na lilikha naman ng maraming trabaho ay prayoridad ng Pangulong Aquino upang lalong mapaunlad ang Clark (The establishment of more businesses which will generate more jobs is a priority of President Aquino to further develop Clark).”

So Headline Gitnang Luzon reported Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. as saying.

“President Benigno S. Aquino lll will invite more investors to create more jobs at the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga.” Read the lead of the paper’s February 3 banner “Malacañang priority, PNoy bares action plan for Clark.”

Not to be outbannered, Sun-Star Pampanga had its own quote of Coloma, thus: 

"Bibigyan po ng prayoridad ng pamahalaan ang Clark development sa ilalim ng administrasyon ni Pangulong Aquino (The government will give priority to Clark development under the administration of President Aquino).”

So screamed its February 3 headline: “Guiao lauds PNoy for Clark dev’t plan.”

And gushed: “The swift response of Malacañang came just a day after Guiao delivered his privilege speech at the House of Representatives, where he urged the President to issue a concrete policy statement on Clark and its airport.

The appeal was a result of the consolidated inputs of the Clark Challenge: Stakeholders’ Summit some two weeks ago.

“We are very much elated about President Aquino prioritizing the development of Clark. His giving attention to it is a manifestation that he wants to leave a legacy to the region where he comes from,” said Guiao.

Pardon, but whatever plan both Headline Gitnang Luzon and Sun-Star Pampanga bannered is nowhere in the body of their respective stories. Not even an adumbration of it can be traced thereat.

An action plan – the way we were made to understand in our Organization Development studies at the Development Academy of the Philippines, as well as in our Certificate Course in Public Relations at the Institiut Perhubungan Raya in Kuala Lumpur, albeit in the 1980s yet – comprised, among others, definitively measurable activities backed by resources and bounded by time.

So where’s the what, the how, and the when in the reported PNoy’s action plan for Clark?

So what “swift response from Malacanang” are we to rave about?

  

So Headline Gitnang Luzon reported:  “Coloma disclosed that three options were submitted by the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) Secretary Emilio Joseph Abaya to President Aquino, including a single airport system that would involve the closure of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and the development of Clark International Airport in Pampanga; a dual airport system which would involve the development of the Clark airport as well as the maximization of NAIA operations until 2025 while looking for a new airport site 25 kilometers or 30 minutes away from the existing gateway; and the dual NAIA-Clark airport system.

Disclose is the operative word there. Which dictionary meaning is “to make (secret or new information) known.”

What Coloma was reported as saying is no new information revealed in the wake of Guiao’s summit and privilege speech. What Coloma said was recycled hogwash, stock-in-trade government response whenever the development of Clark is raised.

From the Philippine Star “updated October 25, 2013” and bylined Lawrence Agcaoili: DOTC taps JICA for new airport study: 

In an interview on the sidelines of the 39th Philippine Business Conference and Expo, Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said the Aquino administration has asked JICA to do a study on the possible replacement for NAIA...

He pointed out that the agency has already presented two options to President Aquino as Malacañang is inclined to adopt the dual or twin airport system than a single airport system.

The first option, he said, is to develop Clark International Airport in Pampanga, maximize the runway and terminal capacity of the 32-year old NAIA, and put up a new airport that would replace the congested international gateway.

The option also involves the closure and the sale of the existing NAIA.

On the other hand, Abaya said the second option entails the operation of the Clark International airport, NAIA, and the new airport.

“We are going up to the President to get a final decision. We are now master planning Clark. We will invest in Clark but we won’t put all our eggs in Clark but we will make sure that we will stunt the growth in Clark. In NAIA, we will maximize runway capacity and terminal capacity and eventually we will hit a ceiling in NAIA either in 2018 or 2020,” he added.

And much earlier, from inquirer.net written by Paolo G. Montecillo and dated February 28, 2013:  

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said different plans for Clark and its Manila counterpart, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), would be brought up to the Cabinet economic cluster and later to the President for approval within the month.

The choice would be between maintaining two major airports—Clark and Naia—supporting each other, or vacating Manila in favor of the former US military base.

Malacañang also has the option of establishing a brand-new airport inside Metro Manila or in a nearby province that will replace the existing Naia complex in Pasay City.

“We are finalizing plans and bring this to the President [for a final] decision,” Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said Thursday.

Abaya admitted that while there were several options on the table, no clear favorite has emerged and it would be up to the President to take his pick.

“Will we have one or two gateways? Do we close down Naia in the future for some other airport? A lot of stakeholders are waiting for these decisions,” Abaya said in a radio interview.

“What’s important is that a decision is made soon so projects can move forward,” he added.

Nearly a year hence, what PNoy plan, much less any decision obtained in Clark, pray tell? Almost a year since, Coloma chirrups a recurrent refrain of Abaya’s discordant notes.

Still, Guiao enthused: “Clark stakeholders and people of Central and North Luzon are encouraged by the President’s move to prioritize the development of the Freeport and its airport. It gives us a very strong assurance on the development of the Freeport and Clark International Airport in our efforts to keep on pushing for its growth which will benefit not only the region but the whole country as well.”

Kababo tamu kilabot. So naïve, easily pleased we are, to put it most kindly. Aye, we are that which P.T. Barnum said is born every minute.   

Bench me for this Coach, but can’t you see this administration is taking the Clark stakeholders for a ride on a Ferris wheel here? In the more colourful language of the alley, sinasakay tayo sa tsubibo. 

And we should be grateful for it?

Alas, that street filosofo is right: E mu tatasan ing camulalan da reng Capampangan. In straight, if kinder, English: Never underestimate the gullibility of the Capampangan.  Indeed, ignorance is bliss.

Shucks.