Knocked Out of the Sky, What About the 'Crisis' on Land?

The Philippine Star

Sunday, September 20, 1998

By The Way

By Max V. Soliven

The talk of the town the past couple of days has, naturally, been the coming shutdown, scheduled for next Wednesday midnight, of the Philippine Airlines. Imagine that, after 57 years of pioneering aviation in Asian skies?

There has been a great deal of fingerpointing, much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, tons of recrimination, and the raising of false hopes and false flags. Let's face it. PAL is going, going—gone.

If the main man, the guy who underwrites the expenses and signs the checks, decides that he's had enough, that's it. The government and the increasingly desperate union chieftains and the horrified rank-and-filers of the doomed national flag carrier are trying to find another godfather, financier, or buyer to rescue PAL.

Is this still the land of Miracles? I can only say, Abangan. The President is exerting every effort to save PAL from crashing, and Secretary Vicente Rivera Jr. of Transportation and Communications has been exploring ways and means of resuscitating PAL. Jun Rivera told me before he flew off to Davao last Friday that some foreign air carriers, such as Qantas of Australia and Singapore airlines had expressed interest in PAL, or at least in acquiring a stake, a majority or simply "management" in some Philippine air carrier.

We've still to hear from that other, mysterious factor, EVA Air of Taiwan.

But let's be sanguine about the situation. Are any "interested" would-be foreign investors eager to take on the handling of PAL's belligerent labor unions. Such as the Philippine Airlines Employees' Association (PALEA), the Airline Pilots Association of the Philippines (ALPAP) or its remnants, et cetera?

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One Cabinet official tried to put a cheerful face on the crisis by expressing the belief that, say, Qantas, which operates in strongly "unionized" Australia. is experienced in dealing with trade union matters. Perhaps he forgets that Australia itself was crippled for many months (almost a year) by a pilots’ walk-out which almost upended the entire economy Down Under, until resolute government action and a relentless crackdown stabilized the shaky situation.

Many Aussie pilots were never able to find "new” employment in Australia after that traumatic strike action, and had to go off to hire themselves out to Asian airlines, such as MAS in Malaysia. But that was during the period of the Asian Boom. Now, faltering airlines in our region have laid off more than 1,000 pilots, and from the look of things, more “redundancies" and regretful "terminations" are in prospect.

Can "former" Communist leader and former head of the dreaded New People's Army hit squad, the Alex Boncayao Brigade, labor militant Popoy lagman, who was the prime mover in the PAL labor confrontation, find the 8,000 dispossessed airline employees a new deal?

Judging from the look of relief on his face, as discerned in those newspaper photographs, exiting PAL Chairman and majority owner Lucio Tan is as happy at losing PAL as anybody can be who has dropped P20 billion in cash which he will never see again, not to mention the mountain of debts with which he is left saddled. He tried his last card, but the union leaders slapped it away. There are no options left, apparently, to the Kapitan, but he seems somehow happy to let go.

Tan's antagonists and critics continue to bitterly accuse him of "mismanagement" plus a litany of other gripes. Now, they'll have an opportunity to find out whether anybody is willing to risk taking on the "management."

The President, of course, is appalled at the prospect of the nation being without a "flag carrier,” a serious blow to our island economy, and the thought of 8,000 workers suddenly going jobless. However, the government doesn't have the 10 billion, or more, required to restart PAL, or keep it flying.

Not even the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will hazard the weird idea of getting its presses (as the Russians threaten to do with their Rubles) to print that extra money. The peso would simply, as in Japanese times, end up as "Mickey Mouse" play money.

And so, what next?

My suggestion, and I won't be cheeky enough to pretend I know how to go about it, is for the Erap administration to "invent" itself another national flag carrier. Some aviation company capable of acquiring or leasing aircraft, while unburdened by the baggage and headaches of the "old."

This is a matter on which the Executive Branch and Congress may have to get together very quickly. Tempus fugit, and unless a "miracle" is produced, tomorrow could bring with it a doomsday scenario.

If anybody wanted to sabotage the economy, would you say, this is one damn explosive way of doing it?

Complicating matters, and contributing to another damaging damper on national morale is the fact that the Air Transportation Office (ATO) choose the very same embarrassing moment, the afternoon of Thursday, Sept. 17, to suspend one of the few remaining airlines, Air Philippines.

Why on earth such abominable timing? First, the PAL shock — or sbokku as the Japanese would term it — and now, simultaneously the Air Philippines suspension of "Air Carrier Operators Certificate." The "close down" order was signed by this bozo, Captain Jacinto F. Ortega. Jr., Asst. Secretary of Transportation and Head of the ATO.

President Estrada himself, when he got the news that all Air Philippines flights had been grounded, stranding thousands of passengers and commuters bound to and from other points in Luzon, and the Visayas and Mindanao, phoned DOTC Secretary Jun Rivera to do something about it.

Secretary Rivera summoned Captain Ortega to his office pronto. After discussing the matter with Ortega, the DOTC Secretary announced Friday afternoon (as well as personally to this writer) that everything would be resolved that very same day.

But all afternoon and all night Friday nothing happened.

As usual, the explanation trolled out will be "air safety." There were hundreds of "safe" but frustrated passengers camped at the airport, baggage and all, their appointments and weekend plans ruined, the last time we looked.

Air Philippines may not be Asia's First Airline (like the expiring PAL), but it has two brand-new McDonnell Douglas 82s, eight Boeing 737s, and four YS-11s. It has, in the pipeline, an order of three new McDonnell Douglas 82s and four Boeing 747s. Former Air Force commanding general, Augusto C. Paiso (one of the heroes of the EDSA People Power revolution), who's President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Philippines, said that the airlines' "technical expertise includes foreign consultants, highly-trained pilots and mechanics."

Sus. Whatta life! It never rains — and this is not just said figuratively in the light of the incessant rainfall — but it pours.