DoJ chief to PAL, pilots: You have obligations

By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 11:22:00 08/02/2010

MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila De Lima on Monday reminded both the Philippine Airlines (PAL) management and its employees that they have obligations and that they be held accountable to the public.

De Lima, together with Executive Secretary Paquito N. Ochoa Jr., Transportation Secretary Jose P. De Jesus, Labor Secretary Rosalinda D. Baldoz, is set to meet with PAL management and its pilot association this afternoon.

“We need to be able to help settle the dispute,” De Lima said in an interview.

“This is not just simple employer-employee relationship because this is imbued with public interest so the government has to step in,” De Lima added.

In the last two days, the airline has been forced to cancel regional and domestic flights after 13 captains and 12 first officers flying its Airbus A319s and A320s resigned from the flag carrier.
On Saturday, the shortage of pilots either disrupted or cancelled 23 PAL flights, including one to Hong Kong.

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said eight PAL flights from Manila to four destinations and vice versa—Cagayan, Cebu, Bacolod and Iloilo—were cancelled Sunday.
“We need to ensure that the laws are being complied with and we have to remind them of their obligations—both the management and the pilots,” De Lima said, adding that the government needs to study the situation and determine if the parties can be held liable for their actions.

However, she refused to give specific liabilities or charges that may be filed against the management and or the pilots.

“We need to get the full details of the situation first,” she added.