Joker hits CAB for ‘incompetence’

The cash-strapped Philippine government is losing P3.3 billion yearly in unused airport slots in Japan.

This disturbing revelation cropped up during a recent Senate inquiry into the air treaties and air agreements entered into by the government through the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) with various countries.

The senators specifically blamed former CAB executive director Manuel San Jose for alleged inaction or refusal to allocate the 4.5 airport slots granted to the Philippines by Japan, which drains the country of P3.3 billion in lost revenues.

San Jose has been tagged as the central figure in the controversy involving the loss of the airport slots after he refused to allocate the 4.5 slots to Philippine Airlines (PAL), which has been working on them for the past 10 years.

The slots were given to the Philippines’ CAB by its Japanese counterpart in 2001 and were deemed forfeited in November 2002 due to non-usage by Philippine carriers. They have since been assigned to other airlines due to very high demand for the slots.

Sources from within the CAB said that the slots were warehoused for another airline that was not yet ready to fly international.

Sen. Joker Arroyo, chairman of the Senate committee on public services, berated the CAB official for alleged incompetence which proved to be very costly for the government.

"Every time we deal with the CAB, we go in circus," a visibly irked Arroyo said, adding he recommended that the CAB’s budget be cut for incompetence.

The joint hearings were conducted by the Senate committees on public services and foreign relations pursuant to Senate Resolutions 527 and 533 filed by Sens. Sergio Osmeña III and Vicente Sotto III, respectively.

The twin measures sought an investigation into the policies and procedures adopted by the CAB and the DOTC in forging air bilateral treaties and agreements with the view of determining if these violated certain laws and constitutional provisions.

CAB and DOTC insisted that they were mere executive agreements which need not have Senate concurrence, but the senators shrugged off the argument saying the documents involved national policy and therefore, should be deemed as treaties requiring Senate approval.

It was also unearthed during the hearings that a member of a United States-funded lobby group called Accelerated Growth in Investment Liberalization and Equity (Agile) has infiltrated line agencies of the government involved in policy-making processes.

Mila Abad, president of the so-called Freedom to Fly Coalition (FFC) that has been vigorously pushing for the adoption of open skies policy by the Philippine government, has admitted that they were getting financial support from abroad, but declined to identify Agile as their benefactor.

Abad also admitted that CAB director Alberto Lim was a member of FFC, prompting the senators to react strongly by calling for his immediate removal from the quasi-judicial regulatory body.

"There must be a surgical operation at the CAB. He (Lim) should be excised from there. You know this Agile is all over the place and that cannot be allowed to continue," Arroyo stressed.

Osmeña echoed the same sentiment, saying Lim should not have been appointed to the CAB in the first place. "He should be changed. We cannot have a one-sided CAB promoting foreign interest over the local airline industry."

It was also learned that several Agile members have been holding offices in various government agencies including departments of the executive branch.