RP-Taiwan air links cut; passengers stranded

More than 600 Manila-bound passengers were stranded at the Taipei international airport yesterday when two Taiwanese carriers refused to fly.

The incident came a day after the Philippines, for the second time in six months, severed its direct commercial air links with Taiwan as a long-running dispute over passenger loads intensified.

A resolution approved by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) on Tuesday and enforced yesterday cited as one of the reasons Taiwan's unilateral decision to cut the weekly number of Philippine Airlines (PAL) flights to Taipei from seven to four.

"It is very clear that there is no meeting of minds between Manila and Taiwan," said Eva Estrada Kalaw, head of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei whose recommendation was the basis of the CAB's resolution.

The Philippines scrapped its air services agreement with Taiwan last September in a dispute over passenger loads and onward routing, causing a four-month suspension of direct air links.

The dispute arose from the Philippines' complaints that many passengers flying from Manila to Taiwan on China Airlines and EVA Airways were being flown onto the United States and other destinations, taking business away from the financially ailing PAL.

Links were restored in February under an interim agreement after both sides agreed on a compromise passenger load of 4,800 down from the weekly passenger limit of 9,600.

Kalaw said talks between the Philippines and Taiwan should have been held last March 1 and 2 to resolve the perceived violations of the interim agreement.

But she said Taiwan refused to attend the talks, and no formal agreement has been signed by the two parties.

"In view thereof, I am constrained to advice the CAB not to act on the said interim agreement as there is no such agreement to speak of in the first place," she said.

For its part, Taiwan complained that the Philippines did not provide adequate warning before it terminated the agreement.

"We express our strong protest and dissatisfaction at the move, which twists the actual situation and does not reflect international relations," said Chang Yu-hern, an official of Taiwan's ministry of transportation.

The more than 600 passengers stranded yesterday were supposed to take EVA Air and China Airlines for Manila. Both carriers said they would arrange for passengers to fly via Hong Kong.

An EVA Air cargo plane departed for Manila early yesterday but Philippine air controllers ordered the jet to return to Taipei without prior warning, airline officials said.

Hsien-ching Chan of the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office in Manila said they only received a notice recently from the CAB's decision terminating the agreement. "If they don't want our carriers to come, just let us know. But give us time," Chan said.

In a statement yesterday, PAL blamed Taiwan's "duplicitous and uncooperative attitude" as the root cause of the long-drawn aviation dispute.

PAL chairman Lucio Tan flew to Taipei last week to appeal to the Taiwanese carriers to stop violating the interim agreement in order to preserve air links, but his pleas were ignored.

In another development, five lawmakers may face graft charges for reportedly allowing themselves to be sponsored by a foreign airline on a trip to Australia for an air-and-transport policy consultation last month.

The lawmakers -- Lualhati Antonino of South Cotabato, Rosenda Ann Ocampo of Manila, Joseph Ace Durano of Cebu, Marcelino Libanon of Eastern Samar, and Rodolfo Tuazon of Western Samar -- allegedly flew to Canberra last Feb. 8 to meet with Australian officials.

Highly-placed sources said the trip was sponsored by Singapore Airlines (SAL). The sources considered the trip unethical since SAL's air agreement with the Philippines was placed under review by the Civil Aeronautics Board due to violations.

"These very same Congress members are the ones responsible for tourism, aviation, transportation and communication issues," the sources said. "They should not have agreed to such a trip sponsored by a foreign carrier."