P-Noy urged to amend EO 28

MANILA, Philippines - The Fair Trade Alliance has asked President Aquino to amend a recent executive order he issued that excluded local air carriers from participation in air agreement negotiations.

“A negotiating panel without the principal stakeholders participating in it. This is the absurd and anomalous situation created by Executive Order 28 recently issued by President Aquino creating the Philippine Air Negotiating Panel and the Philippine Air Consultation Panel,” according to the group.

Under EO 28, which was issued together with EO 29 declaring pocket open skies in airports outside of Metro Manila, the designated official air carriers of the Philippines were downgraded to just observers.

“How come the real stakeholders, the Philippine carriers, were taken out of the negotiating panel? In other countries, the governments take care of the interests of their stakeholders, like the flag carriers,” Robert Lim Joseph, a convenor of the Fair Trade Alliance, stressed.

He said it is like negotiating for sugar quotas without anybody from the sugar industry participating.

Joseph said the exclusion of the local airlines in the negotiations for air rights with foreign carriers weakens instead of strengthens the aviation industry. “The airline industry might end up being controlled by foreign carriers through dummies,” he said.

This also puts the local carriers at great disadvantage during air negotiations since foreign carriers are part of their negotiating panels and actively participate during talks.

Joseph called the two EOs as sell-out, unless they are amended.

He also questioned the inclusion of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in both the Air Negotiating Panel and Air Consultation Panel.

“What has labor and trade and industry got to do with air negotiations? The real stakeholders which are the airlines were excluded while the DOLE and DTI which have nothing to do with civil aviation were included,” he pointed out.

Earlier, Joseph criticized EO 29 for being grossly unfair to local carriers as it would grant very liberal and unlimited rights to foreign airlines without guarantee that the former would be getting the same privilege from foreign governments.

“The word ‘reciprocity’ is completely absent in EO 29,” he stressed.