Who is to Blame for PAL closure?

Philippine Daily Inquirer
Thursday, September 24, 1998
METRO
On Target
By Ramon Tulfo

THE MEMBERS of Philippine Airlines who voted no to the proposal to bail it out should take the blame for the death of Asia's oldest airline.

Ironically, the union members who chose to have PAL shut down compose only the minority. Majority of PAL employees either were non-union members or did not vote in the referendum.

In PAL, the minority ruled over the majority.

Most of the PAL employees did not approve of the demand of radical union members for pay increases. They wanted to keep their jobs, they were contented with their pay. Most of the PAL employees understood that the airline was losing heavily but trying to keep itself afloat.

They don't blame Lucio Tan, PAL Chair, for his decision to close down the nation's flag carrier. The Taipan was already fed up with the impossible demands of the radical union members.

"The people who voted to close down PAL didn't think of their fellow employees whose family will go hungry now that we're all out of work," a PAL office worker said.

But the PAL employees who did not take part in the referendum or just stayed in the sidelines, and did not want their voices heard are also partly to blame for the airline's closure.

Had the majority of the employees asserted their right to be heard. PAL wouldn't have closed down.

If Lucio Tan earned $25 billion from PAL, as the airline pilots' union claims, why would he close down the airline? He would naturally have kept it going so he could steal some more money.

It's just like killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.