Cab Issuance of Tops Behind Abuses and Graft

Filipino Reporter
December 25-31, 1998

By PRUDENCIO R. EUROPA

Local civil aviation officials have pinpointed indiscriminate issuance of "unwarranted" temporary operating permits (TOPs) and "Fifth Freedom" rights to foreign airlines by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) as the reasons behind the decline of Philippine carriers and the source of graft and corruption by abusive CAB officials.

This developed following revelations by Finance Secretary that the Estrada Administration is reviewing aviation policy errors of past CAB administrations with a view to rectifying "detrimental" decisions that severely hurt the local aviation industry.

Such a review is in line with President Joseph Estrada's resolve to maintain a viable local air transport which he deemed "crucial to the health of the national economy."

According to CAB member Franklin Ebdalin, an assistant secretary of the department of foreign affairs, some of these unwarranted TOPs were issued to Saudi, Emirates Air, Gulf Air, CLA Air Transport Air Nauru, Federal Express, Continental Air Micronesia, Nippon Cargo, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Qatar Airways.

In the absence of an air transport agreement with a country, the CAB has used the expedient of a temporary operating permit to enable a foreign carrier to operate immediately with landing rights, passenger capacity entitlements and "Fifth Freedom" rights to the alien airline.

"These concessions severely hurt the local aviation industry," Ebdalin said, as he denounced the previous CAB administration for "giving away our air traffic rights to foreign carriers without regard for our interests."

"That was wrong," the CAB member stated. "Philippines air rights are national assets. We should not be giving them away for nothing in return, Why should we side with foreign interests in the name of liberalization'? It is the government's sworn duty to protect its own nationals. Even the United States, whose carriers are already the most powerful in the world, still aggressively protects its own."

Because of the T0Ps, the previous CAB allowed foreign carriers to gain, from zero in 1993, over 50,000 seats per year in "Fifth Freedom" rights or the right to pick up passengers in intermediate points (not the carrier's home country) and fly them to Manila.

Even as the CAB has been granting TOPs indiscriminately.