What The Hell is Wrong with NAIA 1?!

My boyfriend, being a foreigner, has a lot of complaints about our country. Don’t get me wrong, he loves the Philippines, that’s why he chose to stay here but c’mon, do not be hypocrites! Every single fuckin’ day we hear our countrymen complain about the Philippines and the government and no one gets offended. So. Don’t even get me started. Even Filipinos in Saudi Arabia complain about that country, too. Anyway, I digress.

Jimmy is not the biggest fan of NAIA 1 and the Philippine immigration but he has no choice. KAL and Asiana Airlines are both NAIA 1-bound. A couple of weeks ago, we went to Korea and our airport was NAIA 1. I don’t go there a lot because I’ve mostly been flying with Cebu Pac these past years (thank you for your promos, btw) and somehow, on this trip, it finally dawned on me why NAIA Terminal 1 is the 5th worst airport in the world.

NAIA Terminal 1. This photo made it look 10 x better than it actually is.
Photo courtesy of Telebabad.

According some reviews from the website The Guide to Sleeping in Airports, “It has to be experienced to be believed. Think of a bombed-out ruin and you’ll get some idea. It’s like a cattle yard, only worse. Toilets filthy. No seating once you get through customs (maybe 40 seats for a thousand passengers). Bribery and corruption in this airport is rife and the scams start the minute you walk off the plane.”

Okay, I don’t think I needed to even quote that anymore. Anyone who’s ever been to NAIA 1 knows that already. I went to the toilet and there were no toilet papers and/or flush. The luggage carts are tiny and rusty. And the airport is 30 years old, WHY THE HELL CAN THEY NOT RENOVATE IT?! Even just part by part?! Our house is constantly being fixed and renovated and it’s not even an airport! How can we push for tourism in this country when the moment foreigners go here, that’s what will welcome them?! The officials may say, “it’s not broken so why fix it?” Well, sir and madam, just in case you haven’t noticed yet, it’s ugly. And you fix ugly things.

I mean, let’s not even go far. Compared to its new, hip and spunky neighboring airports such as the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand and the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia, NAIA 1 looks like a wrinkly, out-of-fashion, old maid who will never find herself a man, unless she gets a make-over. And more than the low, moldy ceilings and the lack of seats, customer service seems to be non-existent as well.

On our way back from Korea, of course we had to pass by immigration again. My jaw dropped on the floor when I saw the line of “Foreign Passports”, where Jimmy was supposed to queue. WTF WAS THAT?! It took me 10 or so minutes to finish and I literally had to wait 1 1/2 hours for my boyfriend. Obviously, all the foreigners were so tired and annoyed and sleepy already. It was midnight, after all.

I didn’t bother ask him what went wrong. He just said, “now you know how bad your immigration is… They were just chatting amongst themselves, leaving their stations and getting coffee or whatever. They work so slow!!!!” It made me wonder, if there are many people coming in and out of the country, WHY DON’T THEY ADD MORE LANES AND HIRE MORE PEOPLE?! Preferably younger ones who’d actually give a shit about the tourists.

NAIA 1. WORLD CLASS. INDEED.
Photo courtesy of Heaven Purgatory and Hell.

My dad who picked me up said they waited that long in the JFK airport, too but please, father, let us not compare ourselves to the USA. Their security is tight, that’s why it takes long (and Bin Laden was just killed at that time), not because the people in the airport are nuninu-ning and talking bout Mara Clara.

I was gonna let this NAIA 1 thing pass until I learned of another horror story a couple of days ago. This was straight from the production people who was there. As you know, 2NE1 went here for a concert and before, with Super Junior, the boys just had to pass by – not much commotion. This time around, according to the PULP team, the airport personnel made the girls stay in the immigration area (because their “NAIA rep” wasn’t there yet) so everybody feasted on them. And this airport press dude was rudely taking photos of the girls right in front of their faces and pushing the YG staff who were blocking his way!!!!!! WTF MANONG YOU HAVE AN SLR ARE YOU A PAPARAZZI WHY BE SO UNPROFESSIONAL?!?!

Of course the Koreans retaliated and there was almost a fight, and that’s when the security came in. I’m sure you saw this in the news. The airport people were just… *shrugs* meh we don’t know. And when they got to the customs, the Koreans’ luggage were opened and searched as if they were bringing in cocaine, even if those were paid for already!!!! Why? According to the airport people, the press made sumbong / complained to the customs and they made sure they gave the 2NE1 team a hard time. Or something stupid like that.

Oh, and I just learned about this from the Talent Relations Officer: “When 2NE1 was at the immigration, about to leave Manila, almost all NAIA 1 employees stopped working and became spectators. Bom went through the metal detector and X-ray machine so she had to remove her shoes but couldn’t put it back on because the chairs of the employees were blocking her way. I was yelling at them to go back to work while carrying Bom’s bag and shoes – because she was limping. All of them had no reaction.”

Okay I just made my self pissed off writing this. LOL. But everyone has to know what really happened because some reports are just too biased.

We see what you did there at 0:15, Mr. Photographer!!! The Blackjacks and YG fans are now after youuuuu!

To be fair, it’s just NAIA 1. Terminal 3 is much, much better. I know that eventually other international airlines will be able use Terminal 3 (and hopefully there’ll be a much bigger and better Terminal 4) but for now, I guess we have to endure the baaad.

Things like this make me genuinely sad, really. I don’t like putting my country down and I believe in the power and the goodness of the Filipino. I know in my heart, in 20 years, we’ll have a developed, world-class Philippines. But I needed to get this out of my chest and I really hope the younger generation will not emulate the twisted ways of the generation of our parents and their parents.

Let us do our part, be good citizens. If you are going to work in government offices, do yourselves a favor and not be the kind of person that you are complaining about. And to the foreigners who will get to read this, I apologize in behalf of I don’t know who. The Philippines is an incredibly beautiful country and believe it or not, there are people who are working on making it better – not for tourists who will bring in money, but for our children.

The Krimmy Couple happily selca-ing inside a spacious, clean and tourist-friendly aiport. Totally not NAIA 1. That’s at Incheon International Airport. Two more decades, Philippines… two more. But you gotta do your part.

Other accounts worth reading:

NAIA 1 – A Window of Poverty to the Philippines
Sleepless in NAIA 1

Do you have other NAIA 1 horror stories? Feel free to share!

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