PAL seeks probe of 6 Japanese

Malaya
Thursday, September 3, 1998

Philippine Airlines has asked the National Bureau of Investigation to include six Japanese in its investigation of the organizers of CLA Air Transport Inc., suspected "paper" airline, for violation of the Anti-Dummy Law.

In a supplement affidavit filed with the NBI's Anti-Fraud and Computer Crimes Division on Tuesday, PAL sought the inclusion of the Japanese in its original complaint against CLA's Filipino officers Panfilo V. Villaruel Jr. and Leopoldo S. Acot.

Charged were Soen Chiyokawa, Takayuki Hashizume, Masayuki Ishioka, Tadayashi Yoshimura, Hiroko Saito and Tim K. Nara.

All are either former or current directors of IASS Company Ltd., a Japanese company that is the principal stockholder and owner of CLA, a nominally Filipino-Japanese cargo airline that does not have a single aircraft in its fleet. CLA has also yet to mount a single flight since it was granted a temporary operating permit last March 9. The permit expires on September 9.

PAL is also questioning CLA's legality as a public utility operator. It will be recalled that the Civil Aeronautics Board, then headed by Transportation undersecretary Josefina T. Lichauco, granted CLA a temporary operating permit despite knowing that it exceeded the constitutional limit of 40 percent foreign ownership of public utilities.

The six Japanese nationals were cited for conspiring to violate the Anti-Dummy Law which requires operators of public utilities to be at least 60 percent-owned by Filipinos.

Based on its own documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, CLA is nearly 49 percent-owned by IASS Company of Japan. In terms of paid-in capital, IASS controls an overwhelming 81.5 percent of CLA's shares.@