Saturday, September 19, 1998
By Lynda T. Jumilla
THE GOVERNMENT should take over the operations of Philippine Airlines in the event that last-ditch negotiations between management and the unions fail, and its closure pushes through on Sept. 23. Senate President Pro Tempore Blas Ople said yesterday.
He cited Section 17 of Article XII of the Charter which states:
"In times of national emergency, when the public interest so requires, the State may, during the emergency and under reasonable terms prescribed by it, temporarily take over or direct the operation of any privately owned public utility affected with public interest."
"Upon the exhaustion of conciliation remedies, the government should not hesitate to take over the operations of PAL, to protect national interest," said Ople, a former Secretary of Labor.
He said he will file on Monday a joint resolution calling for such temporary emergency measure at least until the Asian financial crisis has abated and the flag carrier can be returned to private ownership.
Ople said PAL's impending closure is imbued with national and public interest because it services far-flung areas in the country which are accessible only or mainly by air.
"We cannot countenance a gap in PAL's service to the different regions, and measures must be in place for a temporary government takeover by Sept. 23," he said.
Ople said that aside from ensuring PAL's continued operation, a government takeover would attract creditors and investors to shore up the firm's financial position.
As for labor and management, Ople proposed a status quo until a viable rehabilitation plan is agreed upon.
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, meanwhile, proposed that air transport officials immediately require other airlines to fly PAL's missionary routes in the event that the closure pushes through.
She was referring to destinations that are non-profitable because of low passenger load, but are necessary as air travel could be one of the few, if not the only means of transport to other parts of the country.
"It is high time for the new entrants to the liberalized air transport industry to serve these unprofitable routes for public interest," Santiago said, noting that PAL alone among the airline companies is required to ply missionary routes.
But other Senate leaders stressed that management and the unions, through the intercession of government, should continue to exhaust all avenues for a settlement of their dispute.
"Even though things look very grim at this point, all parties including government, can still try to talk things out and find a solution to this problem," Senate President Marcelo Fernan said.
Sen. Gregorio Honasan warned that PAL's downfall could further hurt the already battered economy.
Sen. Robert Jaworski, Chair of the Senate Committee on Tourism, said it would be more prudent for management and labor to swallow the bitter pill of cutbacks than suffer a permanent closure.
"If only they are willing to take less of what they wanted, and take it later, the two factions could prevent PAL's closure," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment