No part in renewal of LIA permit – CAB exec

Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) executive director Manuel C. San Jose took strong exception to reports that tended to put the blame for the renewal of the operating permit of the beleaguered Laoag International Airlines (LIA).

The CAB official pointed out that he had no part at all in the renewal of the airline’s certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN). He said the renewal was granted by the old board under Resolution NO. 08 (2001) dated Jan. 15, 2001. At that time, the executive director of CAB was Emmanuel Noel Cruz. San Jose stressed that he assumed the position only on Feb. 8, 2001.

He further explained that the resolution was signed by four of the five members of the old board.

As for the P316,000 fines imposed on the airline, San Jose clarified that these were also imposed by the old board for violations of reportorial requirements from 1996 to May 2000. "Even the airline’s appeal for reconsideration of the penalty was addressed to then Executive Director Cruz and not to me, as one newspaper reported recently," San Jose said.

"As CAB executive director, I would like to emphasize that I have no power to suspend or revoke an airline’s CPCN or permit to operate as this power properly belongs to the CAB board, which is a collegial body," San Jose said.

"If the fact-finding committee on the LIA air crash wanted to delve into the circumstances behind the renewal of Laoag Airline’s CPCN, perhaps it should have asked the members of the old board, and former executive directors Noel Cruz and Guia Martinez, to explain the reasons behind the approval of the petition for renewal of the permit to operate.

"As I see it, the renewal was granted because the members of the old CAB board believed at that time that the airline had met the requirements for its continued operation which are, fitness, willingness, ability to fly or operate and that the service is required by public interest," San Jose added.