MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Audit (COA) has again called the attention of the Philippine State College of Aeronautics (PhilSCA) for not using its two trainer planes for the past five years.
COA said the idle or grounded status of the planes has so far resulted in lost income of P13.96 million and unnecessary maintenance expenses amounting to P2.17 million.
State auditors recommend the selling of the old planes if they cannot be used. The trainer planes were bought in 1995 and 1997 for P12 million.
PhilSCA officials told the COA that despite being 16 and 18 years old, their Tampino trainer aircraft are actually the most advanced among those being used by other private flying schools in the country.
State auditors, in a 2012 value for money audit released yesterday, said the state-owned flying school should address the issue of foregone income and continuous incurrence of expenses with the trainer planes being grounded or idle since 2008.
The COA report said the non-utilization of the aircraft is due to the failure of the PhilSCA management to secure from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) the Certificate of Airworthiness Directive (CAD) and Aviation Training Organization Certificate (ATOC) as requirements to operate a flying school.
This resulted in the non-achievement of the school’s mandate to provide advance level of instruction in the field of aeronautics, loss of income of P13.96 million for the training of eight qualified student pilots for private and commercial pilot courses that were outsourced from private flying school; continuous incurrence of unnecessary expenses for the planes’ maintenance of P2.17 million, and the under-utilization of key personnel of the Flight and Ground Training Section, COA said.
“As noted, there has been no positive development that transpired since the expiration of Certificate of Airworthiness of the said planes in 2008 and 2009, affecting the realization of its mandate of providing advance level of instruction in the field of aeronautics,†the COA report said.
In an interview with the director of PhilSCA and his staff, the COA audit team said they were told the reasons why the management failed to pursue the renewal of certificate of airworthiness of the two Tampico planes and secure the ATOC from the CAAP.
This was because of the fact that some of the stringent requirements of CAAP could not be fully complied with according to their self-assessment.
Hearing the explanation, state auditors said the sale of the aircraft should be considered if upgrading them is not feasible but PhilSCA officials, however, said they cannot allow it.
“Management commented that the disposal of the two Tampico planes is not feasible since according to them, said aircraft are more advanced in terms of technology compared to the trainer planes owned and used by all the private flying schools in the Philippines,†the COA report read.
“They are also adamant against selling the said aircraft because of possible restrictions imposed by government regulatory bodies or the manufacturer/seller. They are presently studying a possible lifetime answer for the repair of the two Tampico planes to make them airworthy,†the audit report added.
If that is so, state auditors said PhilSCA should secure from the Office of the President exemption from the application of 15 percent as the maximum advance payment that a government agency can offer to its supplier and/or contractor to enable them to pursue its maintenance contract to make their aircraft passed the airworthiness requirements of the CAAP and be utilized for the training of student pilots.