Solon bares $1-M foreign lobby in aviation sector

Opposition Rep. Benjamin Lim (Lakas, Pangasinan) called yesterday for an urgent congressional investigation into reports that foreign interests were maintaining a $1 million lobby fund in the country to sway government policy in the sensitive aviation sector.

Lim said the fund was being used to bankroll the activities of local lobby groups and influence peddlers in the government who are opposed to the policy of robustly defending national interests in the aviation arena.

Lim said that if proven true, the lobby fund constituted gross interference in the country's internal affairs and a national security risk as well, considering that aviation is a critical sector of the country's economy and the security system.

"There is a very real danger of foreign infiltration of our aviation policymaking, which we cannot afford because of the threat to our national and economic security. I urge Congress and the executive branch to ferret out the truth behind this lobby fund," Lim said.

Currently, the Philippines is engaged in a bitter standoff with Taiwan over air rights after both sides suspended flights last March 15 -- the second time in five months this has happened.

The country is also in the process of reviewing its bilateral air pacts with Singapore, Korea and Hong Kong.

The Civil Aeronautics Board is also under fire from a Japanese cargo carrier, CLA Air Transport, for rejecting its application to utilize Philippine air rights. The CAB cited CLA's nearly 50 percent foreign ownership as a violation of the Constitutional maximum of 40 percent.

The security aspect of the alleged foreign lobby fund becomes more urgent with the recent accusations leveled at Tourism Secretary Gemma Cruz Araneta for "pandering to foreign interests."

Lim, a member of the House tourism committee, slammed Araneta for "openly siding" with Taiwan in the dispute.