NGO lauds GMA for shelving cargo ‘open skies’ agreement

The Save Our Skies (SOS) movement lauded President Arroyo yesterday for heeding the call of the aviation industry not to sign a cargo open skies agreement with Singapore, Thailand and Brunei as it criticized open skies advocates for pushing for the signing of the accord.

"It’s good the President listened to us because had the signing pushed through, the agreement would have a disastrous effect on our local aviation industry," said Robert Lim Joseph, SOS president.

He said had the Philipines signed the multilateral air agreement with the three countries, this would signal the collapse of the industry. "Besides giving them unlimited cargo flights and frequencies, the three countries would now be able to code share with or assign their flights to other non-member nations." The SOS suspected the foreign-funded aviation lobby group Freedom to Fly Coalition or their supporters in government as being behind the latest move. "Whoever advised Malacañang to sign the agreement is not after the national interest," the SOS said.

Joseph said they received information that the planned signing did not go through the proper channel as concerned government officials and aviation stakeholders like airlines were not consulted on the matter.

Government officials involved in air negotiations like Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Franklin Ebdalin and Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) executive director Tomas Mañalac were unaware of the planned signing, Joseph said.

He said this has been done in the past when government officials concerned with drafting air policies were not consulted before any signing, citing as an example the signing of the RP-Singapore air agreement by then DOTC Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez on Aug. 25, 2001.

The RP-Singapore pact was reportedly signed by Alvarez even though he did not have the authority to represent the Philippines and despite the official position of the previous RP air panel to defer talks with Singapore.

Joseph said earlier during the time of president Ramos, former CAB board member Victor Limlingan also granted air entitlements to Singaporean carriers even without the approval of Ramos. Because of his action, Limlingan was relieved by Ramos and was found criminally and administratively liable by the Ombudsman.

Another example cited by Joseph is the granting of temporary operating permit (TOP) to CLAAir Transport, Inc. and its designation as official cargo carrier to Japan despite the absence of a CAB Board recommendation.

"These unauthorized actions by some officials have become the norm. We wonder whom they are working for and at what price," he said.

Joseph called the planned signing of the multilateral air agreement with Singapore, Thailand and Brunei as scandalous. It’s good the industry and the airlines immediately made a fuss out of this."

In order to prevent a similar situation in the future, Joseph reiterated the need to amend Executive Order No. 32 so that major stakeholders like the airlines, tour operators and cargo forwarders will be represented in air talks.