Before we hand Kenneth Cobonpue the keys to the PHL …
We should all thank Ken Cobonpue and his partners (sorry, can’t seem to remember who those are, but them) for the nice concept for the reboot of NAIA. But, as we fall all over each other to heap praise on them - and out of the other corner of our mouth, snidely ask the government to make its move - consider the following:
1. The proposal only talks about redesigning what is now the execrable parking lot of the NAIA. The sleek video makes us forget that that area - while crappy - isn’t the real problem. The shit hole is the terminal itself. For that, the video seems to offer only the most cosmetic of changes. Kinda like those stupid facades people have been building since Imelda wanted to disguise the shanties of the squatters in Manila (a move that I’ve seen in Bayani Fernando’s pink and blue facades that used to be at the corner of E.Rodriguez and Araneta Avenues, and in Tagaytay).
2. It’s wrong to say that this is a “free makeover.” The concept may be free, but the execution sure as hell will cost a bitch and a half. Also, again the concept only touches the outside of the airport. If funds are available for a makeover, government should focus on the terminal itself. Look at any major airport that we envy and the first thing you’ll notice is that the planes sprout out of the terminal’s peninsulas like mandlebrot fractals. Now look at the Cobonpue video and there are what? three planes per peninsula? That’s terrible.
Also, take a close look at the video’s interior shots. Same old same old. If this is a reaction to the sleeping in airports review, then it has missed the point by a mile. It’s the terminal that is not livable. Not the outside.
3. And of course, more important than the complaints on form are the complaints on thievery and thuggery in NAIA. The Cobonpue proposal is super, but like many shiny things, it is ultimately hollow because it does not address the true danger that lurks in that low-ceilinged artifact of the 70’s.
