By Nikko Dizon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:52:00 08/06/2010
MANILA, Philippines—Belatedly finding out that her cousin was among the resigned pilots of Philippine Airlines (PAL), Justice Secretary Leila de Lima yesterday said she might recuse herself from the dialogue the government has been brokering between the airline management and its crewmen.
De Lima told reporters that she had made the disclosure to President Aquino and Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa on Wednesday that resigned Capt. Emmanuel de Lima was her cousin.
“I just learned of it yesterday (Wednesday) morning when I heard the name on (local radio) dzMM. I called up my brother and he confirmed that it was our cousin and it was confirmed that he did resign,” De Lima said at a news briefing.
The government panel, consisting of three Cabinet secretaries including De Lima, has not seen the names of the resigned pilots since it began talking to PAL management and the Airline Pilots Association of the Philippines (Alpap), the justice secretary said.
De Lima added she had asked Transportation Secretary Jose de Jesus to relay her disclosure to the PAL management for its “response and reaction.”
“If they would feel uncomfortable with that, I have no option but to recuse myself from participating in any of these dialogues. Although these are only dialogues and we are not resolving any case, I would rather that PAL would say its piece about it,” De Lima said.
She said Malacañang had decided not to hold any further dialogue while it was evaluating the information it received from the separate discussions it had with PAL management and Alpap.
PAL management on Wednesday snubbed the meeting organized by Malacañang with Alpap, saying the latter did not represent the pilots who have resigned.
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