On Airport Advertising and Digichive Philippines

Photo courtesy of Inquirer.net

The Philippines is one of the most visited countries in Asia because of its pristine beaches, other tourist hotspots and our cultural heritage. Sure MIAA and most of our local airports with their inadequate facilities and inefficiencies need to improve in order to encourage more tourists to visit the country, but these doesn't necessarily mean that we have the worst airports in the world. In my opinion, here are definitely others who are a lot worse.

Needed Improvements
Like any other airports, MIAA have its shortcomings but since being tagged as the worst airport in 2011, there have been significant and ongoing improvements, especially in its facilities. I think the airport officials and the government took the label as a challenge, which is actually good, since they are now doing rehabilitation and renovations airport-wide. Ongoing constructions include improved toilet facilities, more check-in counters, wider taxiways and plumbing improvements.

Funding Constraints

Constant airport improvements need additional funding, of course. And the airport's operating income is said to be insufficient to fund all the renovations needed. Which is why the present airport management decided to review the advertising contracts which is one of the major source of funding of airports worldwide. And guess what they found out: MIAA receive only 13 Million Pesos yearly for terminals 1, 2 and 3 from a single contractor which is said to be Digichive Philippines.

The Digichive Philippines Issue

According to an article from Inquirer, because MIAA only get a measly 13M income from advertising, which is obviously too little compared to its real worth, they decided to place the advertising contract for re-bidding. As expected, the bidding went higher and in the end won by a different company for P126M. Digichive itself reportedly made a re-bid of P100M a year, a huge leap from its current contract of P13M. But hey, the firm actually do not want to let go of their contract yet, so they filed a case against NAIA and got issued a TRO (courtesy of San Juan RTC) stopping MIAA from awarding the advertising contract to another bidder.

My (Unsolicited) Opinion About This Issue

I agree with the views of the Influential Blogger. Everything is just so hazy and murky on this subject and we need clarification. This Digichive Philippines itself seem to be a secret corporation of sorts, with ingredients that could spark talks of controversies and a lot more issues. And this is actually the first time I heard about them!

In times like this, we acknowledge the need for a transparency and yet we seem to do nothing about it. There should be a clearly-defined rules and regulation on handling advertising contracts and an even clearer documentation on how the revenues are spent.

How interesting annoying. I think we need to delve deeper into the issue and gather more data and information. But this will only happen if MIAA will consent to post the contract they have with Digichive in public. I really hope they do, so this issue can be settled once and for all and the country can move on. Only then we can concentrate and focus on improvement and enhancements our airport desperately needs.

If this doesn't happen, and when all else fails, I only have one suggestion so our airports can achieve a better international reputation: PRIVATIZATION. But this would need a separate post. :)