NGO urges Senate to resume review of open skies

The Save Our Skies (SOS) movement has called on the Senate to resume its review of Executive Order 253 issued by President Arroyo which declared a de facto cargo open skies in Clark and Subic.

Robert Lim Joseph, SOS president, said the EO’s review by the Senate was cut short when the 12th Congress ended its session.

"There was no Senate report on the EO as it did not complete its scrutiny of the Palace order. So we do not know whether the issuance of EO was detrimental to the interest of the local airline and cargo industry," Joseph said.

The SOS shared the observation by industry experts that the Malacañang directive encouraged the US cargo carriers, Federal Express (FedEx) and United Parcel Service (UPS), to engage in 7th freedom flights in violation of the Constitution.

He said based on reports, some of the flights of these US cargo carriers out of the Philippines are in the nature of 7th traffic. Seventh freedom gives a carrier operating entirely outside the territory of the flag state to fly into the territory of the grantor state and there, discharge or take on traffic coming from or destined for a third state or stages.

It will be recalled that Philippine Airlines (PAL) has filed complaints with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) against these cargo carriers over their unauthorized 7th freedom flights.

Joseph said 7th freedom operations are in the nature of a public utility. "As such, we can say that the 7th freedom flights of FedEx and UPS violate the constitutional provision mandating that the authority to operate a public utility shall be exclusively granted to Filipinos."

It is believed that through the issuance of EO 253, the Philippine government in effect legitimized the 7th freedom operations of the two American cargo carriers and even encouraged other foreign cargo airlines to engage in the same.

The SOS is at the forefront of private sector efforts to promote fair and equitable relationship between the Philippines and the US in the area of aviation.