CAB bewails Neri’s claim that it’s under ‘regulatory capture’

The Civil Aeronautics Board of the Philippines (CAB) lashed out at former National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Chairman Romulo Neri for accusing their office of being under “regulatory capture.”

CAB is asking Neri to explain his “irresponsible” pronouncements before the Senate’s Blue Ribbon Committee on the ZTE broadband deal investigation last Wednesday.

In a letter to Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, CAB Deputy Executive Director and officer-in-charge Porvenir Porciuncula said Neri should name names.    

“We deplore the statement… We vehemently and categorically deny his allegation of regulatory capture,” he said, noting that their office has just completed its International Organization Standards (ISO) certification last month to improve transparency and accountability in the agency.

“The statement of Secretary Neri is thus irresponsible and unfair to the men and women of CAB,” he added, daring the ranking government official to name names.

In an interview with The STAR, Porciuncula explained that accusing an office of being under regulatory capture connotes that its decisions are captured or influenced by business interests.

“Secretary Neri should reveal the names of the people involved if there is indeed regulatory capture. The CAB is a collegial and quasi-judicial body and its records and proceedings are open to the public,” he stressed.

“We and the public deserve to know who was captured and who captured whom and for what. Were those involved local or foreign stakeholders? And who is best to be captured by a business interest? The statement of Secretary Neri tends to point that regulatory capture may have occurred at a different level from the CAB rank and file,” he said.

“Secretary Neri must know something but he must be responsible enough to say it. The people involved – which only he has knowledge at this point – deserves no respect but, we hope he would respect the office by not giving simple and sweeping accusation as we have been working to institute all possible ways to improve public service at the CAB,” Porciuncula further stressed.

He emphasized that the CAB is one with Neri in advocating reforms, but to be true to any reform, “he must start by exposing the parties involved, however mighty or influential they may be.”

“Otherwise, it is just lip-service if those involved are not held accountable. As the good Senator Mar Roxas said, it is stunning for a high-ranking official to just be silent about it and just let things be,” he said, referring to how the cabinet secretary was allegedly offered a P200-million bribe to approve the ZTE Broadband Deal.

Porciuncula said the CAB is requesting that their letter be read in the next hearing of the Blue Ribbon Committee to set the record straight, adding that they are also ready to face Neri.

The CAB, an agency under the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), is an office vested with the functions relating to the economic aspects of air transportation.

It exercises the power to regulate the economic aspect of air transportation, and the general supervision and regulation of, as well as jurisdiction and control over, air carriers, general sales agents, cargo sales agents, and air freight forwarders as well as their property, property rights, equipment, facilities and franchise. 

As the Air Transportation Office (ATO) is to the Land Transportation Office (LTO), the CAB functions like the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).