PAL Apologized for Delay

Tonight

Friday, November 1, 1996

PHILIPPINE Airlines has extended its apologies to PAL passengers who may be inconvenienced by any work disruptions due to an ongoing labor dispute in the company.

The PAL management also said the airline will do all it can to protect the passengers from threatened illegal acts by some misguided employees who have declared themselves "not bound by the Secretary of Labor's assumption orders."

Atty. Antonio V. Ocampo, PAL Corporate Secretary and Senior Vice President-Corporate Counsel, said during a press conference on Monday, the airline has prepared contingency measures to minimize passenger inconvenience in case the dispute worsens.

He said PAL is planning to reduce flights on sectors where there is competition and redirect these on points where PAL is the sole carrier.

While PAL expects to lose revenues, the emergency measure will ensure continuous domestic air service. "The passengers should suffer the least in this internal PAL problem," Ocampo said.

PAL management said the airline is unable to meet all the economic demands of its three labor unions. Instead, management, upon approval of the PAL board of directors, is offering all employees, including the unions, the opportunity to become part owners by subscribing to new PAL shares (worth P477 million) at P5.00 per share. The stock offering will partially meet the cash component of the economic benefits demanded by the three PAL labor unions even while the airline is cash-strapped and continues to incur losses at approximately P3 million a day that could reach more than P1 billion by the end of the current fiscal year.