It has been a week, but the noise in the business community remains to be the successful handling by Transportation Secretary Jaime “JJB” Bautista of the bidding for the long overdue rehabilitation of the country’s premier international gateway, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), which was awarded to the consortium led by food and beverage conglomerate San Miguel Corporation.

Salud to both San Miguel main-man Ramon S. Ang and Mr. JJB!
This development got me and my wanderlust Rotarian friends – Kyla, Marga, and Weng – excited about the ease and comfort of going out and getting into the country with the upgrade of NAIA.
 

It, too, called to mind a good friend, whom I haven’t seen face to face since he was given the pink slip in August 2023. I am talking about former General Manager of the Manila International Airport Authority Cesar M. Chiong, who has been relatively quiet for the past seven months.
 

His name reverberates along the business corridor as people are speculating that he might do a MacArthur. The tittle-tattle going around is that Mr. Cesar will be staging a comeback.
 

For me, Mr. Cesar is in the molds of Dr. Avelino Zapanta, who knows the ins and outs of airline operation. Straight out of the state university as “Iskolar ng bayan,” he joined Philippine Airlines (PAL) as management trainee. He was only 19 years old and PAL was his first job. Part of PAL’s management training program, Mr. Cesar went through all the gamut of airline operations from airport check-in to cargo, catering to maintenance and engineering, technical, corporate finance and even became part of the cabin crew for international routes.
 

And not too many knew that he, actually, served as flight attendant (FA) for the long-haul Los Angeles (LAX) non-stop flights during the strike of cabin attendants in 1997.
 

As an aside, did you know that at the height of the labor problem, then PAL President JJB and Mr. Cesar were at Minneapolis negotiating for the equity purchase of Northwest Airlines into the flag carrier? The labor strike happened and the deal was off as PAL went into financial rehabilitation.
 

His FA assignment was in addition to his main responsibility as Mr. JJB’s executive assistant and corporate finance head. “I was EA Tuesday to Friday and Friday night I fly to LAX and back Tuesday early morning,” he recalled.
 

During those days, there was virtually no rest for him as he reports back straight from the airport to the office. A New York-based banker, who knew him as head of corporate finance, was amazed of his double-tasking.
 

It was a way of life for this workaholic. He has taken his role as PAL vice president-comptroller but was also the chief finance officer, in a concurrent capacity, of Air Philippines.
 

Now, back to the rumor going around that he will return to the aviation industry, and in what capacity, the answer is still up in the air. “I am still in what they call garden leave,” shared Mr. Cesar.
 

Thus, for now he has to keep things close to his chest in compliance with the one-year ban provision of the Ombudsman although according to a muted source, overtures have been coming from several aviation industry players, including the consortia, as early as last year.
 

And what has he been doing since then? No, Virginia, it’s nowhere in his character to sulk. During our talk, he reminisced with sadness the events that unfolded during those critical three months a year ago. “It was truly devastating. . .  from my suspension, then eventually to my dismissal. And my Mom passed on just a few weeks after my suspension, all within 90 days,” he said.
 

But for him, it was and still is a “good break,” after working for more than 30 years at a tender age of 19. He became a full time, dutiful family man with time focused on his wife, Pam and children as well as reconnecting with friends.
 

While he’s inching to go back to work, he has to patiently wait. In the meantime, he has more than enough time to further hone his swing at the golf course. Be forewarned Noel Malabag, Dino Gasmen, Coco Martin, Toto Hilado and Roland Avante, this 13-handicapper aspires to beat you in every game.
 

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