Airports and networks

At last, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport 3, or simply, NAIA 3, is winding up its repairs and renovations and will reportedly open next  month. Five foreign airlines are expected to move there, and this will mean a little less traffic in the other airports. Meanwhile, it has also been reported that the airport in Boracay is being expanded so it can accommodate more and bigger planes. That will boost tourism there, no doubt.

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Of course it will make traveling to Boracay much easier than it used to be, say, about 20 years ago. But, perversely, I will sort of miss those exciting times when one had to go through so many hurdles just to get to the famous resort. I will miss the boat rides, where one had to wade through sea water in order to board, and even the times when we had to be carried on the shoulders of “cargadores” in order to get to the vessels. Well, that’s progress for you, but it will also mean that Boracay will becoming more crowded than ever.

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Meanwhile, a news report said that Russia has given the Philippine Airlines the go-signal to fly over it on its way from Manila to London. Oh? Did PAL really ask for the right to fly there? What if the flight happens to skirt the area where some trigger-happy Ukrainian separatists and their Russian mentors are testing their toys? Flying to or over Russia no longer seems as safe it used to be. The one time I went to that country, the world was not in such turmoils as it is in today.

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In the meantime, the world continues to mourn the triple tragedies that have hit the airlines of three countries, one after the other in just a week. As of yesterday, it had already been confirmed that the Air Algeiri plane flying to Algiers had crashed in Mali, with none of its 120 passengers and crew surviving. This happened just a few hours after a TransAsia flight was also brought down, reportedly by weather disturbances in Taiwan. As all these are happening, we appreciate very much the coverages of CNN that has been so intensive and exhaustive, with its reporters not seeming to miss a beat, night and day. And this was the company that the competition had jeered at as the “Chicken Noodle Network” when it first crashed into the scene during the Desert Storm.

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They are making a big fuss in Arizona, because the execution of a convicted murderer did not take place as quickly as expected, and concerns were aired that the poor guy had suffered “excruciating pain” when the lethal substance injected into him did not work fast enough. Now this man, Joseph Rudolph Wood, was convicted for the murder of a man and his daughter, in what was a brutal crime. When he was arrested, people condemned him and wished he would be meted the supreme penalty.

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Now that the court did give him what he deserved, and the implementation of that sentence did not turn out to be painless, people there are condemning the authorities for being inhumane. Imagine, they pointed out, it took him 90 minutes to die, poor fellow. The daughter of his victim, sister of the one he also killed, is outraged at such reactions, pointing out that her father and sister must have suffered even more at his hands.

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But those so-called advocates who are now condemning the authorities for lacking consideration for the convenience of a convicted killer, and rapist, too, can only remind us of another time in ancient history, when hordes of people, waving palm fronds, cheered and welcomed Someone who rode into their town on a donkey. A few days later, the very same people were also shouting in the streets, for the same Man, but this time their shouts were “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” That’s how changeable human beings can be.

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By the way, can you remember that sea tragedy in South Korea where 294 people most of them students on a pre-graduation cruise were killed when their ship sank? The students were all excited over their trip that was to bring them to  a resort island, but, along the way, the ship listed and sank, and, because of lack of direction from the crew,  most of them died. After the incident, the owner of the shipping line was being sued for it, but he disappeared later. Last week, news came out about a decomposing body found in an isolated woods and it was surrounded by liquor bottles. It was identified later to be that of the shipping line owner.*
 

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