Appointments of older people

The Arroyo government has a penchant of employing senior citizens, or persons way past retirement age, in vital and sensitive offices. One good example is the octogenarian Charito Planas, the head of the moribund Nayong Pilipino and more recently replacement for resigned Presidential Spokesman Lorelei Fajardo, who can hardly walk and has to be aided by minders in order to get around.

Then there is Oscar Inocentes, the replacement for Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Bayani Fernando who left in order to pursue his dream of becoming the nation’s vice president, who can hardly hear.

Then there is Hector Villanueva, chief of the inutile Philippine Postal Corp., who at 75 is way, way past the official retirement age of 65. Villanueva is rabidly against the proposal in Congress to privatize the Philpost, even if it is a white elephant using up so much of public funds for its continued operations, because he would lose his milking cow, if you know what I mean.

And then you have Gen. Ruben Ciron of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), who retired years ago from the military but was resurrected because he happened to be the personal pilot of a powerful senator. The presence of people like Ciron is probably why the Philippines has the most BACKWARD aviation sector in the entire Asean region and why such embarrassing, criminal’s more like it, incidents occur where the son of the general manager of Legazpi International Airport is apprehended by security personnel while giving driving lessons to his girlfriend right on the runway tarmac which is a highly restricted area. –Louie Logarta, Daily Tribune