Senate intervention sought on RP-US air agreement

The Senate, particularly the committee on foreign relations, should immediately take action on the impending implementation of the RP-US Air Transport Agreement (ATA) which will pave the way for an "open skies" arrangement between the two countries, the Save Our Skies (SOS) movement said.

The SOS said the chamber should act on the position of the chairman of the committee on foreign relations, Sen. Manuel Villar, that the 1980 RP-US ATA is a treaty that needs Senate ratification.

Robert Lim Joseph, SOS president, said that if nothing is done by the government, the agreement takes effect on Oct. 1, 2003.

He said some senators have already spoken about the need to submit the agreement to the Senate for ratification. Besides Villar, the senators who believe that the RP-US ATA should pass ratification by the Senate are Senators Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Joker Arroyo and Sergio Osmeña III.

The senators believe that although the RP-US ATA was forged in 1980, it shall only come into full effect on Oct. 1, 2003, thus the present Senate still has the right to review the document.

"We support the position of the senators that the RP-US ATA will have to be reviewed by the Senate for them to determine if there are provisions disadvantageous to local aviation interests and the country," Joseph said.

He warned that the Philippine aviation industry, particularly the local airlines, cargo forwarding companies and travel and tour firms, could collapse if no safeguards are instituted before the implementation of the agreement.

If nothing is done before Oct. 1, he said, American carriers would have the right to fly from any US point to any RP destination with no routing restrictions as well as unlimited 5th freedom access rights between the Philippines and most Asian countries. At present, the US is only allowed 36 weekly passenger flights to the Philippines.

Likewise, the agreement allows unlimited cargo flights between the Philippines and the US, with the American carriers enjoying rrights to establish cargo hubs in RP but the seat of operation, management or control remains outside of Philippine territory.

On the other hand, the Philippines is severely limited by the restrictions imposed by the US on the number and choice of US destinations that RP carriers can serve nonstop from the country, Joseph said.

He added that US domestic "cabotage" restrictions also limit RP carriers’ access to US market. Philippine carriers have to pay US airlines for costly interline deal to serve interior US points.

"If nothing is done to suspend the implementation of the RP-US ATA, US carriers will have all the advantages, including the right to mount unlimited flight and frequency to any parts of the country, to the detriment of local carriers," Joseph stressed.