By Ding Cervantes (The Philippine Star) Updated December 08, 2010 12:00 AM
CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines – President Aquino is set to issue this month an executive order (EO) enforcing an open skies policy nationwide except Manila, thus opening the country’s secondary airports to foreign airlines.
Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim and Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima confirmed this during Aquino’s visit here for the launching of the first SeaAir Airbus plane and the groundbreaking of the Medical City in this freeport.
Purisima said the EO is ready for signature by the President and should be enforced before yearend.
The EO, he said, will open the country’s secondary airports nationwide to foreign airlines, except the international airports in Manila.
“The economic managers have agreed on this. It is for the interest of the country,” he said, adding that the EO will virtually be a total open skies policy, except for the so-called aviation fifth freedom of foreign airlines to pick up local passengers bound for a destination in a third country.
“In formulating policies, the interest of the majority comes first,” he said, alluding to opposition from some local airlines calling for protection of the local aviation industry.
“There will be more competition, some will be challenged, but the move will be vibrant for the country’s economy. There are about 40 million Filipinos who are suffering (from poverty) and many are unemployed,” he said.
Lim declined to give more information about the open skies EO, saying he did not want to preempt the President, but he also noted that the presidential fiat would cover all secondary airports in the country except Manila.
Purisima said the Aquino government would like to make open skies more permanent by pushing for legislation on it.
“If the people understand it and the project succeeds, the members of Congress who are supposed to represent the people will pass legislation to make open skies a more permanent policy,” he said.
Avelino Zapanta, SeaAir president and chief executive officer, said he supported the open skies move because despite competition from foreign airlines, the policy would bring in more tourists and boost local tourism to such extent that, in the long run, even local airlines would benefit.
He said that while some secondary airports in the provinces could not yet accommodate big aircraft, foreign airlines will always have the option to use smaller airplanes.
PALEA can’t go on strike
Meanwhile, the Department of Labor Employment (DOLE) said that employees of Philippines Airlines (PAL) cannot go on strike even if they would all vote in favor of work stoppage.
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said DOLE has long assumed jurisdiction over the PAL labor dispute, and that prevents members of the PAL Employees Association (PALEA) from going on strike.
“Striking on this issue is not countenance of the law. The issue is already under assumed jurisdiction of DOLE and it’s just a matter of implementing the decision,” Baldoz said.
Some 3,700 PALEA members nationwide started voting on whether to go on strike yesterday as they insisted on the legality of their action.
“In form, the strike vote is simply an exercise of the freedom of speech. We want to gauge the sentiments of PALEA members. More than that, the strike vote is also a requirement of the law. So how can it be illegal and inappropriate?” PALEA president Gerry Rivera said.
Rivera said the vote’s final tally is expected after midnight since highly operational PAL work areas like the airport services department, airport ticketing office, in-flight catering department, and the Mactan airport in Cebu where the bulk of PALEA members are situated will have their balloting until midnight.
PAL management said they would question the legality of the strike vote.
Baldoz said PALEA should have filed a notice to hold a strike vote before the Office of the President (OP) and not before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) or they should have a filed a motion for reconsideration of the DOLE ruling before the court.
She, however, clarified that the question of legality of PALEA’s move to undertake a strike vote in preparation for a possible work stoppage is now beyond the DOLE’s jurisdiction.
“Under the present circumstances, the competent authority to rule on the legality of the strike vote is the OP,” Baldoz said.
She noted that the NCMB has already forwarded all the records concerning the PAL disputes to the OP where PALEA filed a petition to junk a previous DOLE ruling.
But Baldoz said the DOLE’s NCMB is on standby to provide conciliators in case OP would seek assistance while trying to resolve the dispute between PAL management and employees.
PALEA filed a notice of strike last Nov. 5 alleging unfair labor practices and union busting against PAL management.
PAL: Business as usual
As this developed, PAL welcomed President Aquino’s decision to designate Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. to broker talks between PAL and its ground workers’ union.
In a statement, PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said the flag carrier wants to finally resolve whether or not the PALEA has legal ground to conduct a strike vote, much less engage in a work stoppage. PAL lawyers are questioning the legality and propriety of the strike vote.
She said it is not a question of how many “yes” votes were cast by PALEA members because the issue is whether or not there is a legal justification for such referendum.
“Philippine Airlines apologizes for the inconvenience and anxiety caused by recent news reports about the planned strike of its ground workers. Please be assured that PAL is exhausting all legal remedies to avert a work stoppage. There are no winners in a strike… the economy, the airline, its workers and most importantly, the riding public, are all losers in a labor strike,” she said.
Villaluna assured the public it is business as usual at PAL despite the ongoing strike vote by members of its rank-and-file union.
“All flights continue to operate normally according to published schedules,” she said, assuring PAL passengers, especially those flying in and out of the country during the coming holidays, that PAL is exerting all efforts to ensure that there will be no flight disruptions. – Mayen Jaymalin, Rudy Santos
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