BIZ BUZZ: Hot PR mess

The premier PR organization in the Philippines, the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP), has been caught up in a controversy involving the annual Anvil Awards, which is considered to be the Oscars of local public relations practitioners.

Biz Buzz heard that several top firms were surprised to find that the rules communicated to them last year when the awards were launched were supposedly changed midstream without all the participants being notified.

At the center of the controversy, we’re told, is an Asian Institute of Management (AIM) executive who chairs the Anvil Awards committee. According to our sources, this executive modified a rule that, in turn, benefited some companies to the detriment of other firms that followed the original rules faithfully.

Based on PRSP’s official communication, companies that failed to submit and pay the fees for their award entries by Dec. 29, 2022 would no longer be entertained, and their submissions excluded from screening by judges. But this AIM official allegedly allowed the screening and judging of entries that couldn’t meet these requirements by the deadline. Even the PRSP board was supposedly unaware of this accommodation.

What raised the eyebrows of some members is that some of the companies that benefited from this rule change are organizations that some PRSP leaders work for and represent. Whoopsie. Conflict of interest? One member suggested that the “P” in “PRSP” should henceforth stand for “padrino.” Ouch.

—Daxim L. Lucas

Timing is key

Last Sunday, several flights were grounded once more after the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) conducted an unscheduled maintenance activity.

It replaced the blowing/cooling fan for the second uninterruptible power supply of the Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management system, which recently dealt with a technical glitch that left thousands of passengers stranded on New Year’s Day.

Infrawatch PH convener Terry Ridon said it was the first step in resolving the technical problem, but Caap should have proceeded at the “least convenience to the public and airlines.”

Caap issued the notice on Saturday evening, about seven hours before the maintenance activity on Jan. 22 from 4:20 a.m. to 5:23 a.m. Operations were restored less than an hour later.

Ridon said “Caap should disclose whether the schedule was the best schedule to avoid inconvenience, or whether an earlier notice could have been possible.”

In addition, he said the Department of Transportation must “determine whether protocol says such notices should have been issued earlier to avoid inconvenience.”

—Tyrone Jasper C. Piad