Is Erap Throwing Good Money After Bad?

Manila Standard

Thursday, September 24, 1998

Opinion 

THERE'S more than meets the eye in President Joseph Estrada's decision to pour in P1.5 billion of precious money to bail out a failing airline at the sacrifice of urgently bringing food and shelter to the impoverished masses of our people. Citing "national interest," the President has shown once again he could back out of his solemn pledge not to use what remains of very limited government resources to save Philippine Airlines, majority of whose employees in a referendum do not want save under the present management. And by his action, the President may well be showing that his famous slogan, "Erap para sa mahirap," is just an empty shibboleth, dredged up only whenever occasion arises to appease his hungry and now increasingly angry constituents.

For PAL's closure is not really a matter of life and death for the nation's dwindling economy as it is being pictured to be by some Malacañang functionaries. There are existing private airlines, like Air Philippines and Cebu Pacific, plying the domestic route and they have expressed their eagerness to expand operations to service the so-called missionary routes and prevent serious disruption in the interim. And then the government could declare an "open skies" policy for the meantime that would allow foreign airlines, who are more than willing and happy at this time, to double or triple their air services to this country and within to cover domestic routes — without use of any government-controlled funding. There is also the offer an American company, the Las Vegas-based Global Alliance investment Association, to pour in immediately $11 billion for a joint venture arrangement with the government or any private group here to continue with PAL's services.

Why President Erap is not seriously exploring first these easy options (Congress simply wants no disruption of PAL's domestic flights for obvious reasons) is a puzzle to many. Could it be, as many assume, because PAL's majority owner — who is well-known for self-dealing and "milking" PAL's earnings through his own dummy companies meeting the airline's every business need — is a close friend? ("Wala, akong kumpare. kaibigan o kamaganak.") Furthermore, the airline owner has more than once rebuffed the President when he begged him not to close PAL operations until a solution could be found. Perhaps, the President is genuinely and sincerely seeking a continuation of the domestic flights "in the national interest.” But is this enough reason to junk his well-accepted policy of not using government resources to bail out failing private companies, the reason for his privatization program, using instead the proposed P1.5 billion fund for vital and urgent social services?

But let's go slow in reaching conclusions until we find out the clear action of President Erap. He and his spokesmen, unable to get their act together as usual, have been making daily contradictory pronouncements.