A salute to Sec. Jimmy Bautista and Ramon Ang

NAIA’s decrepit state and chaotic passenger experience has brought much shame to the country. It is a national embarrassment. Whether we like it or not, NAIA has become a metaphor for the country’s wild west ways. It is our primary gateway, after all. The national government has proven incapable of getting NAIA’s act together, not because they don’t want to but because our laws don’t give them the flexibility to do so.

There have been at least four attempts to privatize NAIA. We recall two unsolicited proposals from a consortium of conglomerates, an unsolicited proposal by Philippine Airlines and the retracted award to Megawide-GMR.

But all these attempts failed. Why? Because the syndicates who operate NAIA’s various functionalities sabotaged the privatization process and past presidents succumbed to them.

NAIA embodies the characteristics of government – corrupt, inefficient, riddled with syndicates and bureaucratically paralyzed. It operates according to the lowest acceptable quality standards.

It took the quiet determination of Secretary Jimmy Bautista to finally complete NAIA’s privatization. Secretary Jimmy is a methodical leader with unyielding resolve. We recall how he transformed Philippine Airlines from one of the world’s most maligned airlines to one of the best, earning a 4-Star rating.

Amid great obstacles, Secretary Jimmy completed NAIA’s privatization in record time. It took just 13 months from the time BBM gave the green light to the final award. It took the DOTr and ADB (government’s privatization consultant) only six weeks to evaluate the winning bids. This is a record for a privatization deal of this scale.

We salute Secretary Jimmy for this achievement. Indeed, Secretary Jimmy is an honest and hardworking public servant, not to mention a humble man. I count him as among the great Filipinos of our time.

We also express gratitude to BBM for green lighting projects and ignoring the syndicates that attempted to sabotage this privatization.

San Miguel Corporation, led by Ramon S. Ang, emerged the winner of the bid. By now, the concession agreement must have been signed, with no less than President Marcos as witness.

As someone who closely follows