CAAP board to study $10.6-M deposit in ICAO fund

MANILA, Philippines - The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) board of directors, chaired by Transportation and Communications Secretary Manuel Roxas II, will evaluate a proposal of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and CAAP management to deposit an additional $10.6 million in the Philippines’ ICAO trust fund, an official said Monday.

“There has been no deposit of additional funds yet. I have asked them to present it to the CAAP board first which will have to approve it,” CAAP director general Ramon Gutierrez told The STAR in a phone interview.

Gutierrez said the ICAO fund did not all go to the salaries and allowances of the local and foreign ICAO consultants, saying a big portion of it went to the procurement of certain aviation equipment coursed through the ICAO.

He said that this process ensures that the CAAP gets equipment at their international standard price, and that there is no commission added since the ICAO purchases direct from the suppliers.

The Commission on Audit, in its 2009 report, said the $12 million ICAO trust fund was established in 1996. The fund had a standing balance of $3 million as of the end of 2009, state auditors said.

The CAAP Employees’ Union said that despite the depletion of the fund, the ICAO – the United Nations’ international aviation watchdog – raised significant safety concerns on Philippine civil aviation systems on Dec. 18, 2009 after an inspection earlier that year.

The US Federal Aviation Authority downgraded the Philippines from a Category I to a Category II rating due to deficiencies in the country’s civil aviation systems in December 2007.

Union vice president Cesar Lucero earlier said it was time “we question the foreign and local consultants named by the ICAO to advise us on our compliance on ICAO standards why we remain non-compliant despite us spending millions of dollars on their salaries and allowances.”