Landing in seven international airports abroad, was I lucky enough to encounter no land transportation problem exiting those airports at all? With a controversial tweet from a news anchor recently, I have begun questioning my “lucky seven” experience. It may have something to do with what the Philippines does not do. Sentiments of the public keep falling on deaf ears, so it would be better to think about a broken system and as for the lack of luck, perish the thought.
Filipino netizens can, of course, relate to Atom Araullo’s experience which he shared via his Twitter account. In response, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) @MIAAGovPH said: “Hi Mr. @atomaraullo, we are saddened to hear about your experience as the high demand due to rush hour combined with heavy traffic around the metro makes it difficult for any mode of public transport to get to and from the airport terminals.”
Days later, the journalist went back to the topic and tweeted: “(Hindi) na rin nakagugulat ang maanghang na reaksyon ng iba sa ibinahagi kong karanasan. May mga allergic (yata) sa anumang puna sa lagay ng bansa natin. Kakatawa nga, malinaw naman na bunga ng ilang dekada ng kapabayaan ang problemang ito. Bakit defensive? Bato-bato sa langit?”
Raising that legitimate concern is normal. The airport officials made that clear in one of their social media accounts. They admitted that the experience did happen, in fact, they are “saddened” by it. Scholars of such kind of messaging may even venture to say that the latter part of the official statement smacks of exposing them to a saddening but continuing problem they are not interested in or ready to give ample assistance.
To start warding off despair away from our airport terminals, we need enlightened public officials. But what bothers Araullo is that some quarters, including trolls, cannot agree to what has been officially admitted as an actual and continuing problem and made known as a mere consequence of responding to a legitimate concern raised via social media. So here we are, problematizing the problem aired by someone intending to ultimately help enlighten us and see a better future for our new generation. Here lies another problem which is us: We do not readily admit that we have a problem. It may be that for one to be a leader, he or she has to be lucky. It may be that for a long time, Philippine leaders are lucky and the public can readily admit that.
DC Alviar
Professor DC Alviar serves as a member of the steering committee of the Philippine International Studies Organization (PHISO). He was part of National University’s community extension project that imparted the five disciplines of a learning organization (Senge, 1990) to communities in a local government unit. He writes and edits local reports for Mega Scene. He graduated with a master’s degree in development communication from the University of the Philippines Open University in Los Baños. He recently defended a dissertation proposal for his doctorate degree in communication at the same graduate school under a Philippine government scholarship grant. He was editor-in-chief of his high school paper Ang Ugat and the Adamson News.
