CAB to Correct Aviation Policy

Filipino Monitor

Thursday, December 24, 1998

MANILA -- The Philippine government is currently reviewing decisions of previous civil aviation authorities found detrimental to the national interest in preparation for a complete revamp of national aviation policy.

Finance Secretary Edgardo Espiritu said the review will rectify some errors made before to maintain a viable local air transport industry, which is crucial to the health of the national economy.

Among those being reviewed, according to a senior official of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), include "indiscriminate" granting of temporary operating permits, passenger capacity entitlement and so-called fifth freedom rights to foreign carriers.

These concessions severely hurt the local aviation industry, said Foreign Assistant Secretary Franklin Ebdalin, who is a member of the CAB.

"The previous CAB administration gave away our air traffic rights to foreign carriers without regard for our own interests," Ebdalin added.

He deplored the agency's failure to protect the national interest in carrying out the liberalization policies of the Ramos administration.

"That was wrong. Philippine 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?" he said.

"It is the government's sworn duty to protect its own nationals. Even the U.S., whose carriers are already the most powerful in the world, still aggressively protects its own," Ebdalin added.

Since the country liberalized its aviation industry in 1993, it has seen a tremendous increase in passenger seat capacity that has proved ruinous to local carriers, many of whom are start-ups or newly-privatized firms with no access to government support.

Even more alarming, from zero in 1993, the previous CAB had allowed foreign carriers to gain over 500,000 seats per year in fifth freedom rights or the right to pick up passengers in intermediate points (not in the carrier's home country) and fly them to Manila.

This has siphoned off traffic—mostly overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), businessmen and tourists—that would have otherwise gone to Philippine carriers.

To rectify these glaring oversights, Ebdalin said the CAB would, for starters, begin reviewing the Philippines' bilateral air service agreements with a number of countries.

"We need to review the imbalances that exist and then we'll propose adjustments to the agreements accordingly," he said.