06.14.07 kulturnatib

Dear Lance Gokongwei

my apologies, kulturnatibists, for that screw up in last posting's date. it should have been 06/07/07. thats not what came out. but it seemed like not too many of you tripped on that one. still, i should acknowledge that mistake. and, no, that was not deliberate to try to see if you are paying attention. im sure you are.
salamat.


Even before your airline was founded, I had always patronized airlines that went up against the then monopoly Philippine Airlines. I flew Aerolink, the upstart that first tested the waters even when the liberalization of the airline industry was still a white paper in the economic plans of then aspiring Pres. Fidel Ramos.

Unfortunately, this company went belly up. Before they could get their full franchise from Congress, one of their planes went literally belly up due to pilot error – he was reportedly drunk -- and crashed into the swimming pool of one the houses of Mervil Subdivision in Paranaque, killing every one on board and a few on the ground as well.

Your airline went on to take full advantage of airline liberalization and since then, I have always made it a point to fly with you. With the launching of your cheap fare campaign whose slogan is the sexist “It's time every Juan – what about Juana? -- flies,” this point has been easier to make, even if the success of this campaign is beginning to be its own undoing. But, that is another matter.

Concomitant with your aim to make flying accessible to every Filipino, is your aim to promote local tourism. And not just any kind of tourism but one that is sustainable and responsible; in a word, ecotourism.

For this you have your inflight magazine, Smile, which features stories about local – and now, foreign -- tourist destinations where your planes fly.

These have been quite interesting and informative and are a good company especially when one is flying alone, as I often do.

But, during my last trip, your magazine, the June-July issue, didn't give me much reason to smile. In fact, it gave me all the reason to be indignant, which, fortunately, was tempered somewhat by the fact that, this time, I wasn't flying alone and I had company other than just your magazine.

This issue featured a four-page spread of the top ten entries to a photo competition you sponsored to commemorate your 11th year.

On the title page were four of these entries. The very first one sickened me.

Some years back I had written about how, in Loboc, Bohol, a tourist stall there had some tarsiers put out like they were circus creatures. The tourists, locals mostly, behaved accordingly. Like they were in a circus. They proceeded to manhandle the tarsiers, going so far as to blow on the poor creature's eyes in a bid to open them for the cameras that, then, proceeded to explode their flashes which, for these nocturnal animals, is not far off from an electroshock for humans.

I would not be surprised if this winning entry that has the cutesy and totally clueless accompanying caption, “Don't cringe at the sight of this creature peering at you! It fits comfortably in a human hand,” was taken at some place like this place in Loboc. It could very well have be taken at this very same place.

It is evident in the photo that it was taken in the daytime. It is very difficult to find tarsiers at daytime in the wild. You simply won't find them. The wardens at the Tarsier sanctuary funded by Prince Charles in Corella, also in Bohol, will warn you against looking for them. Not only because it is difficult but more so because it is rude, inconsiderate and downright immoral.

A picture is truly worth a thousand words. Your distinguished panel of judges sadly missed six of those very important words – DO NOT TAKE PICTURES LIKE THIS!

Pictures like this should not have space in your magazine, let alone win in your competition. It sends the wrong message. It makes your claim or advocacy for ecotourism sound hollow, hypocritical. Or, at the very least, it pops a flash on your inexcusable ignorance.

Ecotourism, most of all, means respect. This picture does not show respect. It shows the exact opposite.

It is not only high time that every Juan and Juana flies but, more importantly, that they fly with a socially responsibly carrier that not only values profit, promptness, service -- good values all -- but more so, the most important value of all, respect.

You can still be that carrier.