A Christmas Message

A Yuletide Season’s Message for PAL, employees and customers

Next year, 2012 will be very bad for everyone.  The Eurozone Crisis cannot make life easy for anyone. The United States’ recession, Japan’s post disaster environment, the closure due to flooding of major transnational industries like Honda, computer companies, many others manufacturing in Thailand, the setbacks in Greece that triggered EU’s headaches, and many other global scenarios.

All in all, it is best to enjoy the Christmas this year and New Year’s celebration up to Valentine’s Day! J

Our domestic economic performance is lackluster – to say the least – for the second quarter of 2011.  This is not going to improve next year.  Whatever the positive forecasts of rating organizations like Moody’s, Standard & Poor, etc., nothing can make the charts give a positive reading.

Recently, the national flag carrier experienced a serious setback.  It stands to lose hundreds of millions of pesos or more from the strike of Philippine Air Lines Employees’ Association or PALEA, and the losses will keep coming.  The Flight Attendants’ and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines -  FASAP case in the Supreme Court of the Philippines, appears to be favoring the adversaries of Mr. Lucio Tan and PAL.

When the recent Australian Qantas Air Line lockout happened, the airline naturally became the butt of criticism and its chief executive officer was lambasted in the media for taking such a militant action. In the end, who will win?  Will Qantas grant its three largest unions their demands?  Will the Australian courts award damages to the workers, once they win any case they might file with the courts in Sydney?

In Thailand, workers’ unions in sheer numbers forced an ally of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to resign. A victory for workers, certainly. But what happens thereafter? The sister herself of Thaksin, Ms. Yingluck (Yinglak) Shinawatra, took over the government by winning by a landslide during the elections that followed the forced resignation of former Prime Minister Samak Sundravej.

The solution to Philippine Air Lines troubles will not be forthcoming.  These problems of the airline will reflect the country’s situation in the long run. People taking action out of desperation instead of balanced reasoning. The masses losing their cool.

However, we are forewarned. It will be difficult to sit idly and merely contemplate what is going to happen next. At its worst, this will be allowing the country to sink deeper into the quagmire. The best tact for His Excellency Benigno Aquino III to take is to prepare the country for the onslaught of the economic crisis 2012. He has to visit my bookshop more and read more books instead of just listening to his favorite CDs, maddeningly tinkering with his play stations and toys, shooting paper or metal targets, dating girls — as if, and doing things not presidential. Of course, he’d been advised by others before me. But I’m saying it again nevertheless.

The PAL and PALEA and the customers of the national flag carrier may pray that with the economic catastrophes of 2012 and who knows when it will end(?), the airline will continue instead of die. Or the prayers of PALEA in its case will no longer be heard and granted. PAL can no longer hope for outsourcing and recovering its losses – which it should have done decades ago. The clientele of PAL will sorely miss their rides in the flag carrier.

This Christmas, PAL and PALEA as well as the PAL riding clientele can accommodate a touch of understanding inside their hearts, have more tolerance and not fan anger and negative sentiments further.  Let the Christmas Spirit sink in and perhaps a token here and there of compassion, forgiveness, acceptance, a sense of peace and friendship. Give each other a gift during the season and let’s see what comes next?

Merry Christmas PAL, PALEA and PAL riders!!!  Love to you all!!!