We commend the general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority, Jose Angel Honrado, for his gall to hand over awards of appreciation for the honesty displayed by 14 rank-and-file airport workers last year.
We surmise the 14 legitimately believed there was nothing heroic or heart-stopping about what they did. After all, this is exactly how they are expected to behave in an ideal world, an ideal airport.
The employees found gadgets, jewelry, cash and documents and returned them to their owners. They must do so, regardless of whether they were hard up themselves from working low-paying jobs. It is their obligation to be honest.
“The happiness brought by doing good deeds has no monetary value,” said Ronald Gadayan, who says he expects nothing in return.
Nonetheless, they deserve commendation if only to encourage more of their colleagues to do the same. It is an incentive for following the basic rule—if something is not yours, do not take it.
Honrado could take a hint from these humble airport personnel. After all, it was under his watch that the Ninoy Aquino International Airport became its most notorious, from lousy facilities to the bullet-planting scam where airport security personnel extorted money from hapless passengers on whose possession a bullet was “found.”
A self-respecting man would admit his failure and step down in shame, but not this one. Honrado, after all, has the privilege of being close to President Aquino himself—as a relative and as a former aide of the President’s late mother.
We wish this were fiction, but Honrado even said: “There is no better way to start the New Year than by celebrating the people who give Naia its good name.”
He conveniently left out the fact that he is not one of those people, and thus enjoyed no ascendancy to bestow the award on the 14 employees.
