Taiwan seeks Estrada's hand in air pact row

Taiwan has once again asked President Estrada to intervene in the on-going Manila-Taipei air agreement dispute so its carriers can finally resume flights, a Philippine aviation official said yesterday.

Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) member Franklin Ebdalin, who is also a Foreign Affairs assistant secretary, said the letter of request was written by Jeffrey Koo, an emissary of Taiwanese President Lee Teng Hui.

One of the requests was for the Philippine government to end the dispute and start honoring its air agreement with Taipei.

However, Ebdalin said the CAB cannot allow Taiwanese carriers China Airlines (CAL) and Eva Airways to resume direct Manila-Taipei flights without first subjecting them to certain conditions.

He pointed out that the carriers will only be allowed to operate if they abide by a CAB decision that prohibits them from carrying passengers from the Philippines to a third destination.

"We have always maintained that the Taiwanese carriers can resume their flights anytime, just as long as they respect our ruling," Ebdalin told The STAR.

CAL and Eva Air have been accused of using the route to fly to countries like the US, thereby robbing flag carrier Philippine Airlines of passengers.

Following a recent meeting, Ebdalin said CAB officials have deemed the situation as being "back to square one" since both parties have refused to agree to terms that could lead to re-negotiations.

"The Philippines needs leverage to make sure that Taiwan works things out after the carriers have resumed flights. If we give them the go-signal without any conditions, we might be forever burdened with the task of having to check their carriers for violations," he said.

Taiwanese aviation officials earlier appealed to Mr. Estrada to mediate in the dispute. The President, however, passed on the responsibility of resolving the issue to the CAB.

To prove that the Philippine government was open to renewed talks, the CAB waived any deadline for the settlement of the issue.

The aviation body earlier told Taiwanese officials that they had until the end of this month to re-negotiate or face the prospect of having the pact terminated completely.

"We hope to agree on the number of passengers CAL and Eva Air can carry. They cannot insist on having a 9,600-seating capacity per week since that is way higher than the number of Taiwanese tourists that visit here," Ebdalin said.

Effective Oct. 1 last year, Manila suspended its air pact with Taipei, citing violations by CAL and Eva Air. Taipei refused to re-negotiate unless Manila honored an old agreement.

Ebdalin said the Taiwanese carriers would be the ones at the losing end if the issue is not immediately resolved.