By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
In his grief, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana could be excused for shunning speculative talk on the integrity of the military’s air assets right in the middle of rescue operations at the crash site of the C-130 Hercules plane.
Even days after the tragic accident that killed at least 52 mostly soldiers and injured over 50 more, Lorenzana, the generals and all in the uniformed services deserve time to grieve.
But just as Muntinlupa Rep. Ruffy Biazon said in the aftermath of the Sulu incident, it is disturbing that a newly-purchased C-130 plane would crash. With the loss of life of airmen and soldiers, I agree that at some point after military and defense officials lick their wounds, it becomes twice as urgent to determine the cause of such a crash.
Retrieval of the black box the other day should jumpstart the investigation. But more than being specific to this probe, Biazon, who chairs the House Committee on Defense and Security, is well aware of the necessity to question the quality of the assets acquired by the Philippine Air Force and its capability for maintenance operations.
It is the same point being driven by Sen. Dick Gordon when he called out the military establishment and the Department of National Defense (DND) to review the acquisition process of air assets.
Gordon might have come off a bit critical of the PAF, but he stated matter-of-factly that Sunday’s incident was the PAF’s fourth air crash with casualties this year. Prior to one of the worst military air crashes in our history, there were seven killed from January’s Bukidnon crash; the pilot who died in the April crash in Bohol; and the six dead from the Black Hawk down last month in Tarlac.
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Fortunately, the downward trend in the daily COVID-19 caseload in the Philippines is encouraging. This gives the IATF leeway to take more liberal steps to open up the economy further, ease domestic travel restrictions, and introduce “green” lanes to spur tourism.
However, how well these new policy guidelines are adopted and used for productivity and growth depends on local government units (LGUs). By example, Firing Line cites Mayor Bernard Faustino Dy, who immediately ordered a green lane for travelers to Cauayan City, Isabela. The city in the north is now the first LGU in the country that no longer requires an RT-PCR test on inbound travelers.
All that would be required to visit Cauayan now is one’s vaccination card. Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat and Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion have long been lobbying for vaccination passes as a tool to spark domestic tourism and its various support industries.
Still, it should be noted that we belong to a region that continues to lag in terms of COVID-19 resilience, with less than five percent of the populations of most countries in Southeast Asia having been fully vaccinated. Right now, we only have about 2.8 million of our nation receiving their second jab – a minuscule 2.5 percent of the population.
Before another baby step to opening up our economy a little bit more, let us work on a giant step in vaccination for a bigger chunk of our population to be able to contribute more to our economy.
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SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View. Read current and past issues of this column at https://www.thephilbiznews.com
