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THE National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (NAITAS)
over the weekend called on government to implement a calibrated,
measured, progressive and synchronized economic liberalization,
particularly in the aviation industry.
In a statement sent to The Manila Times, Robert
Lim Joseph, chairman emeritus of Naitas, pointed to bankruptcy cases
hounding the US aviation industry as another strong proof that even
the world’s richest nation can’t cope with the demands of an
open skies regime.
“We never learn from our mistakes,” Joseph
said.
Joseph also said the move of several major and
low-cost airlines in the United States to cease flying was not only
triggered by record fuel prices and a softening economy, but by
unfair competition.
“Proposals to unilaterally open up Clark to
foreign carriers have been made in wild abandon, completely
insensitive to the welfare of the local aviation industry,” he
said.
A low-fare war had forced major airlines like
United, Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines into bankruptcy.
“What happened to our other industries would
also haunt the travel and tourism sector. Of course, there won’t
be any long lines for NFA rice, but the outcome would be the
same—less jobs and livelihood for the average Filipino,” he
added.
“Unfair competition has wreaked havoc on the
airline industry,” Joseph said.
“That is precisely what is going to happen to
our Filipino carriers and the local aviation sector itself if we
don’t get our act together and craft a trade policy that is based
on reciprocity and equal opportunity,” he added.
Joseph also alleged that some executives of the
Federal Aviation Administration were acting as lobbyists for some
American airlines, a practice that is somehow similar in the local
aviation industry.
In February 2003, former Civil Aeronautics Board
(CAB) Executive Director Manuel San Jose was accused of making
unauthorized acts in the then renewed efforts to resume air talks
with the United Arab Emirates, the RP-Singapore air agreement and
the lopsided RP-Korea air pact.
Former CAB board member Alberto Lim became a
member of the Freedom to Fly Coalition, which has been unmasked in
the Senate as a lobbyist for foreign interests in the aviation
industry.
-- Francis Earl A. Cueto
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