“If the problem of flight delays and cancellations is due to grounded planes, then the airlines are to blame”
Santa Banana, as far as my wife and myself are concerned, the best news is the “de facto” lifting of the COVID-19 health emergency by the Department of Health.
It is now up to President Marcos Jr. to issue a proclamation supporting the IATF or the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to lift the state of public health emergency!
I consider this news the best so far for my wife and myself considering we are among the most vulnerable category of the COVID-19 pandemic which made us compliant to all the health protocol restrictions, like masking, washing of hands regularly, social distancing.
Santa Banana, we have gone through all the lockdowns and are still observing health protocols whenever we go outside to eat, especially when we go to hospitals for consultation.
My gulay, my wife and I have been isolated in hospitals when we had COVID- 19 pneumonia.
In the wake of all the news that we are among the most vulnerable in so far as the pandemic is concerned, my gulay, we cannot afford not to be careful.
According to DOH Secretary Ted Herbosa, he thinks the obstacle is gone because now we have the bivalent vaccine accompanied with what is called CPR or Certificate of Product Registration.
Recall the state of national emergency on COVID-19 was then issued by the DOH officer in charge Maria Rosario Vergiere.
Recall also the state of public health emergency was declared by then President Duterte in March 2020 through Proclamation 922, which also provided that COVID-19 state of public health emergency will remain in effect until withdrawn by the President.
With the lifting of the state of public health emergency, COVID-19 cases will just be considered as a health problem, like flu, cold, diabetes, hypertension, etc.
But, being elderly, my wife and I still wear masks outdoors or indoors when among other people, my gulay!
We cannot be too careful knowing that many of our friends and relatives died because of the pandemic! Thanks to vaccination and the Bivalent vaccine.
Love the Philippines. For what?
Amid all the conundrum about the new slogan of the Department of Tourism, I still wonder what tourists from abroad can love about the Philippines.
For instance, when they arrive at NAIA, the main gateway of the country, and go through it,
Santa Banana, I wonder how they can love the Philippines?
Not after they have gone through the international airports of Singapore, Hong Kong, Narita in Japan or through the international airports of other Asian countries.
And when tourists want to go to Boracay, its white sand beaches, or to the other resorts they have heard of too, but when NAIA gets hit by brownouts and when its air conditioners don’t not work, will they love the Philippines?
It’s all for these reasons why there’s a need for Congress and lawmakers to probe the DOT and ask all these questions in connection with the rebranding of the country slogan, which needs to be trumpeted worldwide if the DOT can expect more tourists to come to the Philippines.
As for the recent mess and fiasco that came about with an advertising agency contracted by the DOT to promote the slogan worldwide to our great embarrassment using stock footages of other countries, I now wonder about the capability of the DOT on what it will do to convince tourists to come to the Philippines.
With all the mess that came about with the contracted agency, I also believe that DOT Secretary Cristina Garcia Frasco was also to blame for not pre-screening the tourism promotion video.
Obviously, she did not.
For the DOT to allow that ad agency to come out with those stock footages at the launch of the new slogan was clearly the fault of the DOT Secretary, and no amount of support can correct that fiasco.
Coming right down to it, I am now beginning to wonder if the DOT secretary is capable of promoting the Philippines with that new “Love the Philippines” slogan with the measly budget it has.
Using CNN alone to air minutes-long slots will certainly cost hundreds of millions of pesos.
Did Frasco ever consider how much it would cost for promotional materials, like posters, brochures and other promos to “sell” places that tourists can love about the Philippines?
It is for this reason there is the need for DOT to seek the proper budget.
A tourism secretary is basically a salesperson who can sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo.
Abolish the MTRCB
The call of some senators for the Movie and Television Ratings and Classification Board (MTRCB) to ban the movie “Barbie” because it showed the “nine-dash line” of China that was outlawed by the Hague Arbitral Court way back in 2016 brings to fore the existence of the MTRCB following the global information and communications technology that with just a tap of the finger, it enables one to access movies and television worldwide.
Santa Banana, why should a movie and television ratings and classification board exist when it cannot by any means rate and classify movies and television programs shown on the internet? It doesn’t make sense.
But, here in the Philippines, we have the 35-member MTRCB trying to ban a movie from Hollywood.
I believe it’s time to abolish the MTRCB.
Perhaps, the Philippines is the only country in the world still having a censorship agency.
Santa Banana, how can MTRCB censor Netflix, HBO and the many things shown in the movies and television?
Just by looking at the membership of the MTRCB, it has existed as a dumping ground for political proteges.
My gulay, I saw all the episodes of the highly rated HBO series Game of Thrones, with all its sex scenes and nudity.
Was the MTRCB able to censor it?
Just to recall how MTRCB started, it was created by a proclamation of then President Ferdinand E. Marcos, father of BBM.
At that time, the communist insurgency was becoming a threat to national security, and one access was movies and television.
Thus, it was created with a 35-member board.
To justify it, it soon became a dumping ground of political proteges with its own budget.
I say just abolish it and save a lot of money.
Another thing, I could not believe it with the MTRCB reclassifying and giving newscasts and news programs on local TV as needing parental advice.
That’s clearly silly and stupid.
Reduced flights
Another stupid solution to avoid constant delays and cancellation of flights which has become a big irritation on the part of airline passengers is the reduction of flights.
Upon recommendation of the Department of Transportation and the Manila International Airport Authority, the reduction of airline flights will solve flight delays and cancellations because airlines have the problem of grounded planes mostly due to inability of spare parts.
Santa Banana, reduction of flights of airlines is likened to burning a house because of rats.
If the problem of flight delays and cancellations is due to grounded planes, then the airlines are to blame.
They are expected to have enough planes and available spare parts, and this could be a problem for airline passengers.
The proposed solution of reducing flights can only worsen the problem.