Govt not interested in PAL takeover, says Palace

Despite the on-going Philippine Airlines' (PAL) labor dispute, the Aquino administration has dismissed the idea of renationalizing the national flag carrier — even in the foreseeable future. While Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima considers the air transport as a key industry, he told reporters Thursday: "Renationalizing PAL is out of the question. The government has no business running airlines." This statement came after key Cabinet officials like Purisima and Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz met with President Benigno Aquino III to map out a course of action in case PAL's dilemma is prolonged. "We have encouraged the two sides to sit down. The Labor Secretary was with us at the meeting on Tuesday. And we also want to remind the airline of its obligations as a public utility," Purisima said. He pointed out that neither government nor the riding public at large "can be held hostage in any management-labor dispute." "This was why we encouraged them to clear this dispute as early as possible," Purisima said. In the 1990s, the government gave up its remaining interest in PAL after tycoon Lucio Tan took over the airline. Reacquiring the airline now when the government itself is struggling to balance its own budget in three years and sustaining this momentum going forward is really out of the question, Purisima said. Meanwhile, the Palace declared Thursday it would no longer broker the dialogue between PAL management and its pilots and will just let the two camps settle the matter themselves. "Government will now just let them settle and monitor their dialogue. The prejudice to the riding public has been eliminated," Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said. PAL's promise not to transfer its pilots to Air Philippines, said Lacierda, solves the question of security of tenure that the pilots raised. Lacierda said the government was successful in handling the PAL conflict because it was "able to open up a dialogue and convince PAL management not to do things that the pilots viewed as discriminatory." Compensation is something the two parties can discuss among themselves, he said. The government, however, has "options on reserve" just in case a similar case happens again and "the riding public is compromised." Further, Lacierda praised Justice Secretary Leila de Lima for inhibiting herself from the PAL issue because her cousin is one of the 25 resigned pilots. "I think it's highly noble of her to inhibit herself without prodding from anyone," he said. —JE/OMG, GMANews.TV