Elpidio Que RT @gmanewstv Graft court admits evidence vs Tan in ill-gotten wealth case

Elpidio Que RT @gmanewstv Graft court admits evidence vs Tan in ill-gotten wealth case - Business - GMANews.TV. http://bit.ly/bggwlV

This is a good development. P-Noy should have Atty. Catalino Generillo, who was sacked by Gloria Arroyo's corrupt government when he was becoming successful in nailing down the subject tax evader, reverted back to handle the case. I believe he unearthed a document at the National Archives showing Tan et al's signatur...es in the 60/40 sharing agreement with the late Ilocano president. Madam Imelda, now a congresswoman, should cause herself to take the witness stand for the government. That way, she would be appreciated by the people as bent on bring this ingrate tax evader to the bar of justice so as to redeem in a significant way their tarnished name. Per Ms. Solita Monsod's estimate based on the report of Global Business Monitor that she checked, between P220 billion and P300 billion is due for recovery by a non-corrupt government in the case. That would be a big amount for the Filipino people courtesy of the Marcoses.

Our "Kung Walang corrupt, walang mahirap" landslide president should not lose any moment in running after this money stolen from the impoverished Filipinos.

Only some months ago, this vile economic saboteur who speaks Pilipino with twisted tongue for no one to understand, had his and FM's (with 60% share per said civil case) Fortune Tobacco Corp. (FTC) merged with Philip Morris Philippines, Inc. (PMPI). What for? He must be feeling now that his world is getting smaller everyday, that the world seems no longer rotates around him, except probably to the likes of the BIR. Re said merger, FTC had then before which no less than 70% share of the cigarette market, while PMPI had no more than 25%. The sharing between them is 49/51 in favor of the latter. Without logic? As said by an insider about the matter, "Pinera iyon. Sa katakawan ni Lucio Tan, pinera iyon. Next year, 10% na lang iyan." And his Northern Tobacco Redrying Corporation in Vigan is said to have changed hands totally already. It is said to be in the hands now of PMPI, when this interest of Tan is one of those I brought up in my case against Tan in the August 4, 2008 session of the Vigan City Council, per earnest invitation of the "honorables" that had not been paying the tobacco tax since the inception of the city ordinance in the early 1970's. These "honorables" should also be held liable per P-Noy's "Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap" battle cry. They did nothing, like the concerned government officials whom I informed duly about my said case, apprentlly corrupted after some closed door meetings between some "honorables" and Tan's ilk happened in the corridor of City Hall.

Yes, our landslide President should think all things which this evil tax evader, labor oppressor and cheater anfd farmer exploiter might do so as the government would not be able to recover the bulk of the Filipino money he has stolen and stashed in other kingdoms. Shackle him now together with his "families" and ilks who are with him as a bunch of as thick as thieves? Only recently, Sec. Cesar Purisima said that his DOF "eyed" of making smuggling and tax evasion in the threshold of P50 million a crime of plunder, which has life time imprisonment as sentence. This plan should not stay "eyed" any longer. This "eyed" should be converted into action soonest.

Union accuses PAL of ‘beerhouse mentality’

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100826-288812/Union-accuses-PAL-of-beerhouse-mentality

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MANILA, Philippine - The union of flight attendants and stewards of Philippine Airlines Wednesday accused the national flag carrier’s management of having a beerhouse mentality in seeking to retire flight attendants when they turn 40 or 45 years old.

Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP) president Bob Anduiza said PAL wanted to retire its attendants earlier because it wanted younger and pretty flight attendants.

What PAL is not saying is they want younger and pretty flight attendants because of the outmoded stereotyping of treating them as sex objects. It is plain sexism and age discrimination, Anduiza said in a statement.

It’s the ‘beerhouse’ mentality of lusting for young and pretty girls as cocktail waitresses, he added.

But PAL management accused the union of using gutter language.

The union leaders accuse PAL of ‘beerhouse mentality’ and yet, their own statement reveals their true state of mind and exposes their low regard for their colleagues. This is a deplorable ‘below the belt’ tactic that only serves to inflame emotions and drive a wedge between management and its female workers, PAL said in a statement.

Anduiza said other PAL employees, including PAL pilots, whether male or female were allowed to work until 65 years old as long as they are healthy enough to work.

Then, why does PAL insist on retiring its flight attendants at 40 or 45 years old? he said.

Anduiza said PAL president Jaime Bautista’s contention that its retirement policy was approved by the union in its previous collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) was a bankrupt argument.

Collective bargaining agreements, as any decent company knows, expire every five years, with economic renegotiations every three years. Thus, all issues are open and subject to negotiations, Anduiza said.

He said that since the year 2000, FASAP had been proposing to raise the retirement age of its members but PAL would always insist on the 40, 45, and 55 years old retirement ages.

PAL would employ delaying tactics, which causes the CBA negotiations to drag on until the union becomes desperate and settles for its much needed pay increases. PAL management would then promise the union to take up the retirement issues, in the next round of CBA negotiations, Anduiza said.

In its statement, PAL said that both parties are mandated to strictly follow the CBA’s provisions.

It is not as if PAL is forcing its cabin attendants to retire early. These provisions were reached in previous CBAs, PAL said.

‘23 years to build case, 30 minutes to tear it down’

http://www.malaya.com.ph/08252010/metro5.html

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LAWYERS of businessman Lucio Tan took only 30 minutes on Tuesday to complete their presentation of evidence in the forfeiture case filed by the government against Tan’s assets before the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division.

Estelito Mendoza, lead counsel for Tan, did not present the testimony of any witness saying all they needed to prove in court was the fact that Tan did not use even a single centavo of public funds in building up his businesses.

Mendoza was assisted by Atty. Orlando Santiago.

Tan’s lawyers had their documentary evidence pre-marked before the clerk of court last month to speed up proceedings and simply submitted a formal offer of exhibits during the hearing yesterday morning.

"Government lawyers took 23 years building their case but in the end they proved nothing. Today as you see, we needed less than 30 minutes. The evidence we presented would show that the shares of stocks in all the defendant companies were paid for by Mr. Tan from his own pockets. No public fund was involved. We also included documents in support of our counter-claim, although we really have no intention of collecting from the government," Mendoza told reporters.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government is claiming 60 percent of Tan’s holdings in his companies, including Fortune Tobacco Corp., Asia Brewery, Allied Banking Corp., Foremost Farms, Himmel Industries, Grandspan Development Corp., Silangan Holdings, Dominium Realty and Construction Corp. and Shareholdings Inc. in behalf of the state.

In its complaint, the PCGG alleged that Tan was simply holding the disputed assets in trust for former President Ferdinand Marcos.

After filing the case in July 1987, the PCGG seized control of Tan’s companies and continued to do so until 2006 when the Sandiganbayan nullified the writs of sequestration on Allied Banking Corp., Fortune Tobacco., Foremost Farms and Shareholdings Inc.

The court ruled the writs had no basis because there was no prima facie proof that any of Tan’s assets were ill-gotten.

Mendoza reiterated Tan’s appeal to the court to resolve the case speedily, noting that it has been pending for more than two decades.

"I shall not get tired of pointing out that this case was initiated in 1987 – 23 years ago. It has caused tremendous damage to the defendants," he pointed out.

Assistant solicitor general Mauricia Dinopol had tried to postpone the defense presentation of evidence. She asked the court’s permission to present the testimony of additional witnesses to respond to objections being raised by the defendants against government exhibits. Among the names she mentioned were former Budget Minister Jaime Laya, and banker Joselito Yujuico whose family used to own Genbank, the forerunner of Allied Bank.

She said they are also hoping to present former First Lady Imelda Marcos with whom they are still negotiating her possible testimony.

Mendoza, however, opposed the deferment, saying that government had been given every opportunity to build its case until the court ordered the termination of its presentation in April 2009.

Associate Justice Roland Jurado, Fifth Division chairman, after consultation with the two other members of the bench, ruled to allow Tan to proceed with his presentation of evidence even as the court agreed to consider the government’s motion. – Peter J.G. Tabingo

Graft court admits evidence vs Tan in ill-gotten wealth case

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/199226/graft-court-admits-evidence-vs-tan-in-ill-gotten-wealth-case

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All evidence submitted by government lawyers in a forfeiture case against the assets of businessman Lucio Tan were admitted by the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division.

The graft court in a five-page resolution issued on August 2 overruled all objections raised by Tan, his companies, his estranged-brother Mariano Tanenglian, and the Marcos family concerning the various exhibits.

“After due consideration of the arguments as well as the position of the plaintiff and the defendants, the Court resolves to admit all the exhibits offered by the plaintiff, over the objections of the defendants, …subject to the Court’s final evaluation and appreciation of the purpose, materiality, relevancy and probative value of the exhibits in relation to the issues involved in this case," the court declared.

Among the testimonies admitted by the court were the deposition of banker Rolando Gapud and testimonies given on the witness stand by Sen. Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. and former PCGG chairman Jovito Salonga.

His father, Senator Marcos said, advised him to study Tan’s businesses so the young Marcos could personally handle their holdings in those businesses.

In his testimony, Salonga testified that Tan offered P500 million to settle the case out of court in 1986 but then President Corazon C. Aquino turned down the offer.

The defense will present its own evidence at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday – more than 23 years after the complaint was filed.

The court compelled government lawyers to conclude their presentation on Feb. 12 after repeatedly failing to present witnesses, including former First Lady Imelda Marcos whose testimonies were supposedly crucial to the state’s case.

Civil Case No. 0005 was originally filed in July 1987 and had since been amended twice, the last on Sept. 5, 1991.

The State is entitled to recover 60 percent of Tan’s holdings in companies the business tycoon supposedly held in trust for former President Ferdinand Marcos, according to the Presidential Commission on Good Government. The companies include Fortune Tobacco Corp., Asia Brewery Inc., Allied Banking Corp., Foremost Farms, Himmel Industries Inc., Grandspan Development Corp., Silangan Holdings Inc., Dominium Realty and Construction Corp., and Shareholdings Inc.

Marcos' holdings in Tan’s companies were illegally acquired by the former strongman using government funds, the PCGG alleged.

The Marcos family also staked its claim on the same chunk of Tan’s assets asserting that the late President Marcos obtained those assets by legitimate means.

In a 130-page comment filed through lawyer Estelito Mendoza on May 10, Tan objected to the admission of government’s documentary exhibits on grounds that most of these were photocopies and that the originals were not presented for examination by the parties involved.

Mendoza argued that a single sheet of the almost 300 documents marked by lawyers of the PCGG and the Office of the Solicitor General supports the government’s allegation that the disputed assets formerly belonged to it.

Aquino: open skies hastened if PAL row unresolved

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/08/18/10/aquino-govt-hasten-open-skies-if-pal-row-cripples-service

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MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino III said on Wednesday the government will hasten moves to adopt an open skies policy if operations of flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) are crippled by a strike.

Aquino said that while he understands the issues of PAL management and its labor unions, the government will prioritize the interests of the riding public which will be inconvenienced by the disruption of a critical service.

"I am appealing to both sides to think of future issues. If effectively they fail to live up to their obligations, the government will be forced to adopt a policy that will side with the greater population. It will have to be the riding public rather than just the interest of one corporation," Aquino said in a press conference in Malacañang.

Aquino said that the government could adopt either a total or partial open skies policy if PAL is unable to fulfill its obligations.

He said that there are other airlines that will make up for the slack if the flag carrier won't be able to resolve its row with the unions.

The Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP) confirmed on Wednesday its plan to hold a strike after talks with PAL bogged down.

Aside from FASAP, 25 pilots of PAL have resigned without complying with the 6-month notice, while the PAL Employees Association is also contesting the airline's move to outsource the functions of at least 3 key departments that would result in the mass layoff of some 3,000 employees.

Bob Anduiza, president of FASAP said the refusal of PAL management to scrap its discriminatory retirement policy forced the union to resort to a strike.

"For the past 10 months, we have been throwing this issue back and forth and nothing has happened. All we got are promises," Anduiza told abs-cbnNews.com.

He said FASAP withdrew from the preventive mediation talks at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Tuesday after confirming that PAL did not want to table for discussion the union's demand to lift the mandatory retirement age of 40.

"They (PAL management) did not even want to discuss the issue, and since talks were going, nowhere we decided to pursue the strike option," he said.

Anduiza said majority of their 1,600 members are in favor of a strike.

"We are confident that we can get the votes we need to file a notice of strike so that these problems will finally end," he said.

Under Philippine law, unions must get a majority vote from members to stage a strike, and then notify the government before any work stoppage.

In a statement on Tuesday, PAL said the talks failed to resolve the labor row.

PAL said it had offered a package of P80 million to improve cabin crew salaries.

But FASAP rejected the offer for being too small, and said most of the money would only cover unpaid salaries the company owed them.

PAL also wants to exclude the early retirement issue from the current mediation process, saying it should be tackled in a new collective bargaining agreement for the 5 years to 2015.

"They keep on throwing information to muddle the issue. For years, management promised it would sit down with the union to discuss its demand to lift the mandatory retirement age even before the current CBA lapses, but management always found a way to put it off. This time, we don't want anymore delays, that issue has to be fixed now," said Anduiza.

He said that PAL cannot even explain to the public why it insists on retiring flight attendants at such an early age.

"PAL is also unfairly using this issue as leverage and bargaining chip to get difficult work-rule changes from the flight attendants, and make them work more for less pay," said Anduiza.

He said that the airline's policy on pregnancy and maternity leaves is not only discriminatory, but unlawful as well.

“Flight attendants who get pregnant are placed on prolonged leave without pay, and this period is deducted from her years of service. It is the same treatment imposed for erring employees who are penalized with suspension.”

Worse, he said, even while on maternity leave, which is mandated by law, PAL deducts the 60-day maternity leave from the flight attendants' years of service.

Strike won't affect operations: PAL

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/network/strike-wont-affect-operations-pal-330-pm

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MANILA -- The management of the country's flag carrier, Philippine Airlines (PAL), vowed Sunday to do its best to ensure that the strike its employees are planning to stage will not affect its operations.

Members of the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines and the Philippine Airlines Employees Union are planning to stage in the next two weeks a strike, said PAL president Jaime Bautista.

He said PAL already received the notice of strike, but the company will make arrangements to ensure that the passengers are not affected.

Bautista said PAL will use its administrative staff in case of strike, and will ask other airlines to serve some of its routes.

Bautista also clarified that they are not planning to employ foreign pilots contrary to reports, although there were German pilots who showed interest in flying with PAL.

"There are foreign pilots who are interested in flying with PAL but it does not necessarily mean that we are going to hire them," he said.

He said the foreign pilots just wanted to fly with PAL for them to gain more flying experience while they are waiting to be called by a German carrier.

Bautista is confident the airline can resolve the problem it is experiencing right now. He said they are still coping up with the flights that were reduced due to resignation of some of its pilots.

"In a few months, we should be back to normal," he said, citing there are enough contingency measures to ensure PAL's normal operations. (Sunnex)

PAL increases fares in 8 routes

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideNation.htm?f=2010/august/12/nation1.isx&d=2010/august/12

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The Philippine Airlines has obtained the government’s approval to raise its fare in its eight regional routes including Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong amid the rising cost of jet fuel.

The flag carrier will raise its fuel surcharge from $35 to $42 on Manila–Bangkok flights effective Aug. 15 until Nov. 14.

“PAL is constrained to increase its fuel surcharge to enable it to partially recover the steady increase in the cost of fuel,” the airline told the Civil Aeronautics Board.

The Lucio Tan-owned airline said it was incurring “under-recovery” of fuel cost amounting to $6.36 per passenger in its Manila-Bangkok route.

It was also allowed to extend until October 12 fuel surcharges it raised from July 13 on its flights to Singapore ($29), Indonesia ($44), Hong Kong ($25), Macau ($19), Xianmen ($24), Shanghai ($44) and Beijing ($44).

For domestic flights, PAL charges P500 to P700 for fuel surcharge.

A fuel surcharge is added to each airline ticket to offset increases in jet fuel prices, which in turn make up an airline’s highest expense after labor, accounting for more than a third of its operating cost per passenger.

PAL said it was spending as much as $30 billion a year on jet fuel.

The carrier is locked in a dispute with a group of pilots and in-flight crew over issues ranging from salary to retirement age to benefits. Its ground employees are also restive over its plan to spin off three non-core units.

PAL has reduced its domestic flights after the resignation of 26 pilots operating its Airbuses.

Meanwhile, foreign carriers Thai Airways and Malaysia Airlines were also allowed to increase their fuel surcharges.

Only Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong Dragon Airlines are bucking the trend and are cutting fuel surcharge.

Fuel surcharges will be as follows: Thai Airways’ Manila-Bangkok and Manila-Osaka services, $43; Malaysian Airlines’ Manila-Malaysia service, $30; Dragonair’s Manila-Hong Kong, $64.70; and Cathay Pacific’s Manila-Hong Kong service, $64.70.

Data from the International Air Transport Association showed that the price of jet fuel rose 4.3 percent to $92.40 a barrel on August 6 from a week ago.

The average price of jet fuel so far this year stood at $88.3 a barrel, and that increased the international airlines’ fuel bill by $17 billion.

Jet fuel was most expensive in Latin and Central America at $95.6 a barrel and cheapest in the Middle East and Africa at $90.20 a barrel.

Jet fuel prices in Asia stood at $92.80 a barrel on August 6, up 12.5 percent from a year ago.

PAL ground crew union prepares for strike

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100812-286376/PAL-ground-crew-union-prepares-for-strike

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MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association (Palea), the ground crew union at Philippine Airlines (PAL), on Thursday said it is prepared to do everything to stop the disputed contracting out of jobs.

“Our job is our life and if necessary we will strike to defend our livelihood for the sake of our families,” said Gerry Rivera, Palea president and Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) vice chairperson.

Palea’s readiness to strike intensifies the labor row at PAL as none of the resigned pilots is returning and the flight attendants’ union is threatening to stop work unless the deadlock in collective bargaining negotiations is resolved.

PAL’s ongoing labor dispute with its ground crew arose out of the plan to contract out jobs that will lead to the layoff of some 3,000 employees. Workers in airport services, in-flight catering, and ticketing reservations will be retrenched and then rehired as contractuals in service providers also owned by Lucio Tan to do the same job for less pay and no job security.

“PAL is faced with a three-front war with its airline pilots, flight crew, and ground personnel because of its drive to demolish job security, replace regular employees with contractual workers, and and the remaining unions in the company,” said Renato Magtubo, PM chairman.

“We are asking the government of P-Noy through Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz to review the policy on contractualization and strengthen protection for job security or else it faces a wave of labor unrest,” explained Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson.

“In factories, shops, and offices contractual workers are working side-by-side with regular employees in doing the same job for less pay, no benefits, and without security of tenure. Contractualization at PAL is simply the tip of the iceberg. We demand that President Aquino make concrete his promise that democracy should work for all by instituting reforms to enhance job security and stop contractualization schemes,” Magtubo said.

The mediation meeting set Thursday arose out of Palea’s pending motion for reconsideration of the former acting labor secretary Romeo Lagman’s “midnight decision” that affirmed PAL management’s prerogative to contract out jobs of ground crew.

“We welcome the preference of Secretary Baldoz to mediate the dispute on job contracting in PAL unlike Lagman who unilaterally issued a midnight decision favoring management. But even as we negotiate in good faith we have to be prepared for all eventualities including the necessity to strike if the planned layoff pushes through,” Rivera said.

Does Lucio Tan want PAL to collapse?

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideOpinion.htm?f=2010/august/12/emiljurado.isx&d=2010/august/12

I have some good news and bad news.

The good news insofar as Philippine Airlines owner Lucio Tan is concerned is that he’s thinking of collapsing the flag carrier in the wake of its labor woes. There are some 1,600 employees going on strike soon; no wonder Tan is so silent on the PAL problem. He has had enough!

PAL insiders say that Lucio Tan would like to have a lateral transfer of pilots and flight attendants to AirPhil, his budget and express airline which also has a franchise for international flights. The airline management will then have reason to claim redundancy of jobs and thus lay off employees. Neat, huh?

Recall that Air Philippines was formerly owned by businessman William Gatchalian, who sold it to the taipan. At that time with PAL already hemorrhaging because of labor woes, was Tan already thinking of collapsing PAL? Back when Tan bought PAL from government, he told me he didn’t know what he was getting into. Now the taipan, in spite of his successes in his other businesses, like cigaret manufacturing, brewery, banking and real estate development, certainly knows better.

With the PAL going belly-up, what will happen to the many labor problems the flag carrier is facing? What about its P3.6 billion debt in landing fees to government? And what about the fact that the Board of Airline Representatives, which PAL heads, has reneged on the payment of P350 million in overtime and meal charges for Customs, Immigration and Quarantine personnel at the three terminals of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and at the Mactan International Airports?

Reconsider Strike Threats, PAL Asks Flight Attendants

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/198266/reconsider-strike-threats-pal-asks-flight-attendants

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Philippine Airlines (PAL) management asked its flight attendants to “reconsider" threats about filing a strike notice, officials said on Tuesday after labor talks between the two parties remained deadlocked.

“All peaceful means of resolving differences should be exhausted," the company said in a statement, adding that the airline is sincere in addressing their concerns.

“Let's find a peaceful solution to our internal problems for the sake of the flying public," PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista said.

Negotiations are still ongoing before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB), the statement said.

The NCMB is still the venue by which members of the Flight Attendants’ and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines (FASAP) could air “their grievances," PAL said.

“Threatening to go on strike...would not redound to the public’s interest," it added.

The next meeting between PAL management and FASAP officers is scheduled for August 17 before the NCMB.

PAL hit by global crisis

Since PAL is experiencing financial difficulty, the Lucio Tan-led company can only “offer an P80 million one-time package to FASAP to close their negotiations for the 2005-2010 collective bargaining agreement (CBA)," Bautista said.

The company was hit hard “by the global economic recession and slowdown in travel just like the other airlines around the world," he added.

The offer was made “to show our good faith and sincerity in addressing their concerns."

Bautista also denied reports that management refused to discuss the retirement age issue during the mediation talks held on Monday at the NCMB.

The company was simply asking that the issue be included in the next CBA (2010-2015) which we can commence immediately, said Bautista.

But this was denied by FASAP president Roberto Anduiza.

“FASAP has been negotiating with PAL management in good faith for the last month," Anduiza told GMANews.TV in a phone interview.

“We’ve given them time. But they have yet to come up with a proposal regarding retirement age."

Retirement rule

Under the existing CBA, the compulsory retirement age for male and female flight attendants hired before November 22, 1996 are 60 and 55, respectively. Those hired after November 22, 1996 are 40 for males and 45 for females. Those hired after November 22, 2000 are required to retire at 40 for both genders.

According to Bautista, the first flight crew to be affected by the 40-year-old retirement rule is “still years from now."

“We have enough time to discuss it with no one being adversely affected by the said rule," he said.

A crewmember hired in year 2000 at the age of 22 will only turn 40 in 2018. Those hired in 1996, on the other hand, will only turn 45 by 2019, he said.

But this projection was denied by Anduiza, saying that one flight attendant has already been hit by the provision.

“In the past years, hundreds have left," he said.

“PAL management is in a state of denial," he said. “What it should do is to sit down and deal with its employees fairly."—Robert JA Basilio Jr./JV, GMANews.TV

Lucio Tan is part of our corrupt ecosystem, Romulo Neri told whistle blower Jun Lozada

http://raissarobles.com/2010/08/07/lucio-tan-is-part-of-our-corrupt-ecosystem-romulo-neri-told-whistle-blower-jun-lozada/

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What’s happening now with Philippine Airlines (PAL) is not mere labor trouble. It is actually part of a political power struggle between the Aquino presidency and an entrenched kingmaker, whom the former economic planning agency chief once named as a key player in the Philippines’ corrupt ecosystem.

The nation’s other power players are closely watching who will win. And Filipinos who voted overwhelmingly to stamp out corruption and level the playing field should be closely watching too.

Romulo Neri’s web of corruption theory

The embattled Romulo Neri unwittingly predicted something like this could happen during a secret dinner meeting with whistle blower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, Senator Panfilo Lacson, Senator Jamby Madrigal and Angelito Banayo (now the National Food Authority chairman) on December 7, 2007.

Neri was at that time the director-general of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).

Details of that secret meeting were later bared by Jun Lozada in his February 18, 2008 testimony before a Senate probe on the allegedly anomalous telecoms broadband deal between the Arroyo government and ZTE Corporation of China.

Cringing, cowering and weeping during the probe that was telecast nationwide, Jun Lozada said that during that meeting, his friend Romulo Neri had called their boss, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, “evil” several times because she was the center of a corrupt political ecosystem that was controlled by a handful of the nation’s oligarchs who influenced and benefited from corruption.

Jun Lozada said Romulo Neri specifically named Philippine Airlines (PAL) owner Lucio Tan as one of those oligarchs in control of the corrupt ecosystem. Romulo Neri even showed a diagram of his web-of-corruption political theory. Lucio Tan was designated in that drawing by the letters “LT”. See the diagram below. (The three other “oligarchs” named were Enrique Razon, chairman and president of International Container Terminal Services, Inc.; a “Tommy” Alcantara and one of the “Aboitizes” (which one, Romulo Neri did not say).

Romulo Neri prepared this diagram to explain his web of
corruption theory. This was submitted to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee probe
on the NBN-ZTE telecoms deal

On the very day Jun Lozada testified, Romulo Neri suddenly had amnesia . He told reporters he was unsure whether he had called Gloria Arroyo “evil” several times:

I know Jun is very sincere with me and cares for me but I really cannot recall
that statement. I don’t remember. I cannot up to now.

However, the former Asian Institute of Management professor could remember in detail the rest of his dinner lecture.

That’s very little thing to do with ZTE. That meeting was more on the discussing
the political economy. I gave my usual lecture on political economy and to
shorten it I just put one brief framework and I think we all agreed that this is
the nature of the Philippine state and the oligarchic state, the players
concerned.

We had to map the whole players in the political system and of course everybody
has a role to play in the whole system. And my conclusion is that in this whole
system, we are all victims of the whole oligarchic structure of the Philippine
State.

To watch the video of one of Romulo Neri’s ambush interviews at that time, click on this.

Romulo Neri did not deny naming Lucio Tan, Razon, Alcantara and Aboitiz as key players in that corrupt eco system.

Now I myself wonder why Romulo Neri named Lucio Tan.

In an earlier entry I wrote entitled Why does world billionaire Lucio Tan have such a troubled airline? , I provided a timeline of how Lucio Tan broke off the profitable units of PAL to make completely different companies that are now quite profitable to this day, while PAL continues to lose heavily.

My Facebook friend Reyn Barnido reacted to my timeline by pointing out it was incomplete. He said,

So what happened between 2000 and 2010? There is a a full decade gap in the
timeline.

He’s right. This decade covers Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration. And so I started digging and that was how I rediscovered Romulo Neri and Jun Lozada.

And then I dug some more and found reports saying President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo dined with tobacco and beer magnate Lucio Tan and shortly afterward, a planned hike on cigarette and beer taxes was reduced, while there was a higher increase in our Value Added Tax (VAT). The justifying argument used then was that a steep rise in tobacco and liquor taxes would harm sales, which would eventually lead to lower tax collection.

In this instance, rather than tax cigarettes and beer owned by Lucio Tan, everyone bore the brunt of higher VAT on basic necessities such as food, medicine, water, electricity.

Romulo Neri proposed solution for sweeping away web of corruption

Before he joined the executive department, Romulo Neri was one of my favorite sources. He headed the Congressional Planning and Budget Office (CPBO). He was always frank in his views and I could always expect choice quotes from him on how the national budget was skewed toward military and anti-insurgency spending at the expense of education and social services.

I was therefore not surprised that he said all that during his “secret” dinner with Jun Lozada and the senators.

He’s very proud of his web-of-corruption theory. On Valentine’s Day, four days before Jun Lozada testified, Romulo Neri told reporters in an ambush interview that “the truth is deeper than what you think.” He said the nation’s problems were quite deep and could not be solved by people power rallies alone because the Philippines was an oligarchic state where in reality, a handful of families and personalities dictated government action.

Today, Romulo Neri is in serious trouble, facing a corruption case that could land him in jail. The charge stemmed from his having told Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that then Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos had offered him a hefty bribe –“Sec, my 200 ka dito” – which he interpreted as 200 million pesos.

Neri said in his own testimony before the Senate that Arroyo told him to ignore Abalos’ offer but still go through with the recommendation process for the ZTE project.

The bribe was allegedly for his facilitating NEDA’s approval of ZTE Corporation’s $329-million national broadband network (NBN) contract with the government.

Romulo Neri may be the first Filipino academic to put forth a theory on political economy and become the very example of how this theory actually works.

For me, he made two interesting statements that are very relevant today.

First, Romulo Neri said that replacing Gloria Arroyo as President would not correct the situation since the ecosystem would remain.

Second, he said reforms in the political economy could only be brought about by the President with the help of all sectors of society.

What do you think?

Akbayan asks Congress to probe PAL row

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/08/10/10/akbayan-asks-congress-probe-pal-row

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MANILA, Philippines - Akbayan Party-list Rep. Walden Bello on Tuesday called on his colleagues at the House of Representatives to investigate the labor woes of Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight attendants.

In a press conference, the militant lawmaker said the Lower House should also summon PAL owner and chairman Lucio Tan to shed light on the labor complaints.

The 1,600-strong Flight Attendants’ and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines (FASAP) is threatening a massive work stoppage after talks with PAL management collapsed on Monday.

FASAP said it refused to accept the P80 million one-time package offered by the management, saying it is not enough to cover the last 3 years’ wage distortions and other insufficient benefits.

Despite these repeated warnings, PAL President Jaime Bautista said he is confident that the government could stem any possible strikes if the government assumes jurisdiction.

In cases of national interest, the President or Labor Secretary “assumes jurisdiction” and can order employees to return to work.

Bello expressed concern over Bautista’s statements and hopes Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz will be impartial in addressing PAL’s labor problems.

FASAP also voiced out the same concerns. Union president Bob Anduiza said the government should be able to wring from the management a win-win solution.

Gov't will be impartial

In a separate press conference, Malacanang assured the stakeholders that the Department of Labor and Employment will “only favor what is right and just.”

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said it is early to assume that the government already has to take jurisdiction over the case.

The government is still monitoring developments in the negotiations, he said.

Meanwhile, former Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros also warned Tan that the company could be liable if it insists on pursuing the compulsory retirement policy.

Under the existing CBA, male and female flight attendants who were hired before November 1996 would be retired once they reach 60 and 55 years old, respectively, and those hired from 1996 and beyond would be retired at age 45 for both males and females. Those hired after November 2000, on the other hand, will be retired by the age of 40 for both males and females.

FASAP is seeking to quash this policy, quoting laws prescribing the retirement age at 60.

Hontiveros warned Tan for violating the Magna Carta on Women. She said PAL’s policy is obviously a form of gender discrimination.

Lucio Tan himself has been very silent over "The PAL" problem...

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideOpinion.htm?f=2010/august/10/emiljurado.isx&d=2010/august/10

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The Philippine Airlines labor problem has become a big challenge for the Aquino administration. No less than 25 pilot-captains have resigned and some 1,200 other pilots, flight attendants and stewards have threatened to strike because of low pay and lack of job security.

The mistake of the administration was to get involved with no less than three Cabinet secretaries—Department of Transportation and Communication Secretary Jose de Jesus, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima—trying to broker a compromise agreement between management and the employees.

My gulay, there were even talks that government should take over PAL because the cancellation of flights was affecting tourism and investments!

What a bad idea. The administration is already scrounging for cash. Moreover, don’t we all know that government is the worst manager of all?

PAL itself is also committing mistakes by threatening to file charges against the resigned pilots. You don’t go to a negotiating table threatening people.

Personally, I believe that under our capitalistic system, if a business isn’t making money and can no longer work for the best interests of the country, it should fold up. PAL isn’t the only airline. Certainly, the vacuum it would leave will be filled sooner than we think.

Considering that Lucio Tan himself has been very silent over this problem, I believe that he has had it with PAL. That’s not his only line of business. He has other interests that are making money.

PAL strike looms as deadlock continues

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/08/09/10/fasap-refuses-p80-million-package-pal-warns-anew-strikes

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MANILA, Philippines (1st UPDATE) - A repeat of the mid-90’s strike that crippled the operations of flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) looms again.

This as the labor dispute between management and its employees over the contractualization of its personnel rests on an August 12 conciliation meeting with Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.

PAL Employees Association's (PALEA) Bong Palad told media at the Lower House on Monday about the possibility of a strike.

“Sasabihin namin sa inyo 'pag walang nangyari sa August 12. Kung alisin nila iyong 2,604 employees, kailangan pa ba strike?"

Palad said they may have the numbers to again cripple the airline’s operations. “We hope so, we have an alliance with FASAP [Flight Attendants’ and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines] and pilots,” he added.

FASAP is the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines.

Palad belied management claims that the airline is losing money, even as he maintained the flag carrier is still lording over the local airline industry.

Palad finds it questionable that the company is only announcing its losses now that they have been without a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with employees for 10 years due to a moratorium sought by PAL chair Lucio Tan when the company went into receivership.

“Bakit iyong 10 taon na nakabayad ng utang, wala kayong sinasabing nalugi? Ang PAL kaiba sa ibang airlines. Pasahero ng PAL OFW [overseas Filipino worker]. There were 16 million, ilan ang umuuwi doon? Kaya nga may foreign carrier kasi di kayang isakay ng PAL lahat,” he said.

PAL employees have complained that many of them have gotten letters of termination along with employment offers in spin-off companies that will handle some of the company’s airline needs.

FASAP rejects P80-M package

Also on Monday, FASAP refused the P80 million one-time economic package offered by the management of Philippine Airlines (PAL).

Talks at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) again broke down on Monday morning as the 1,600-strong union remains adamant that the management has not been giving them their rightful claim.

For the first time, the PAL management offered something “in black and white…but it is not enough,” FASAP Vice President Andy Ortega said in a phone interview.

In a separate press release, PAL explained the P80 million package will settle and close economic issues in its CBA for the period 2005 to 2010.

This covers wage distortions and rice subsidies.

PAL said this is the only amount it could give the flight attendants because of its current financial condition.

“We hope FASAP members will understand PAL's predicament and accept the offer. While we recognize their desire for higher compensation, PAL's current financial situation will not allow it to offer more,” PAL President Jaime Bautista said.

Ortega, however, noted PAL had given their counterparts in the PALEA a much better option.

“They were given 5% to 10% [salary increase]. We could start discussing on that,” he said.

Ortega also noted PAL is still remiss on its counter-offer with regard to its compulsory retirement policy.

Under the existing CBA, male and female flight attendants who were hired before November 1996 would be retired once they reach 60 and 55 years old, respectively, and those hired from 1996 and beyond would be retired at age 45 for both males and females. Those hired after November 2000, on the other hand, will be retired by the age of 40 for both males and females.

“We want the retirement age [for all] to be 60 years old, no more, no less,” Ortega said.

Ortega said FASAP representatives will again meet with PAL management on Tuesday.

If the management does not provide a better counter-offer by Tuesday, the union will make good its threat that members will go on strike, Ortega said.

In an interview with ANC, PAL spokesman Cielo Villaluna said the negotiating table is the best avenue to address their concerns.

She asked FASAP to go slow on its threats considering there is a process involved.

She also warned this would be detrimental not only to their livelihood, but also to the riding public. She said the strikes would definitely cause flight cancellations.

Ortega, however, said “3 years na kami nag-uusap, nag-aantay. Tapos, they’re saying they want more time? That’s unfair.”

Strikers: No retreat until PAL surrenders

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/54a/165.html

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Philippine Daily Inquirer, 23 July 1998

"THE STRIKE will last until the airline closes. Unless PAL changes its position and recalls the retrenched workers, we will not stop the strike."

So warned Alex Barrientos, president of the 8,000-member ground crew union which yesterday went on strike at 3:30 a.m. to demand that the company recall the 5,000 workers who were laid off last month during the strike launched by the pilot's union.

President Estrada appealed to management and striking employees to remain open to an amicable settlement as the labor unrest was harmful to the economy as well as an embarrassment to the country.

Sa buong miyembro ng PAL, lagi nating isipin na hindi lamang ang international at domestic flights kung hindi ang ating ekonomiya ang naaapektuhan ng strike (Let us keep in mind that the economy as a whole is adversely affected by the strike), the President said in an interview with dzRH.

He was scheduled to meet with Lucio Tan (principal stockholder of the now privatized PAL; sg)and later have dinner at 7 last night with Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma and labor leaders, among them officials of the PAL unions--Palea, Airline Pilots Association of the Philippines (Alpap) and Flight Attendants' and Stewards' Association of the Philippines (Fasap).

The President reiterated his willingness to mediate the dispute. He said he was scheduled to meet with Palea last week, but the union representatives failed to make it to Malaca=F1ang.

Members of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (Palea) include reservation clerks, maintenance crew, caterers, cargo handlers and load controllers, who also service 19 of the 35 international carriers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

PAL said a strike by its ground personnel could force Asia's oldest airline to close down after 57 years of operation.

Palea asked the riding public for utmost understanding, saying that it never wanted to go on strike. Palea is defending not just its survival, we are defending our very lives, the union said in a statement.

PAL, which reported a record P8.08 billion net loss in its fiscal year ending March 1998, said it was unable to make payments on about $2 billion of debt.

This reckless and ill-advised action, like a fatal blow, may ultimately crush Philippine Airlines, the company said in a statement.

By staging this illegal strike, Palea has put in jeopardy any proposed rehabilitation plan for the airline, and, with it, our last hope for survival as well, it added.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has the authority to approve the rehabilitation plan. If it withholds approval because of the labor dispute, the airline would have no option but to close.

SEC Chair Perfecto Yasay expressed concern about the strike's effect on the rehabilitation proposal.

Doubts

Doubts had been aired on whether the President would take up the cudgels for the workers, because of his close ties with tycoon Lucio Tan, PAL's majority owner. Tan was said to be major contributor to Mr. Estrada's campaign.

On the other hand, it was also hoped that the President's relationship with Tan would enable him to convince the tycoon to reach a settlement with the strikers.

In a single day and without any kind of warning, the Lucio Tan PAL management ordered the immediate termination of 5,000 employees literally shattering their lives and their families. Worse it was done in a manner that was patently unjust and inhuman, Palea said.

The airline maintained its downsizing program was necessary for survival.

PAL said it tried to find acceptable solutions to the problem to avert a strike by exhausting all possible means of finding an amicable settlement with the management and the labor department.

Palea said it even met with Tan himself on Tuesday night in a last-ditch effort to avoid a strike. But to our dismay and to the detriment of the entire country which depends on PAL's continued reliability, the Lucio Tan group insists on their hardline position.

Manolo Aquino, PAL executive vice president, said that during a meeting with the union PAL offered to suspend its downsizing program for one month but the union stuck to its demand that employees already retrenched should be re-hired.

Aquino said that was impossible as PAL had cut back its operations by 80 percent since a pilots' 22-day strike last month and had no more positions for the retrenched workers.

He said the strike was illegal because the government's labor department had assumed jurisdiction and had warned labor unions against striking.

Labor Secretary Laguesma has vowed to push for continuing negotiations between PAL and Palea.

Earlier, he issued an order assuming jurisdiction of the dispute in a bid to avert a strike. In the order, Laguesma has asked Palea not to go on strike and for PAL to stop firing employees.

Laguesma clarified that he did not issue a return-to-work order to Palea on July 9. Palea cited Laguesma's alleged bias for PAL as indicated by the reported issuance of the order as one of the grounds for the strike.

June pilots' strike

In June, PAL was embroiled in a crippling pilots' strike that brought the company close to financial ruin.

At the height of the strike, PAL laid off 5,000 of its nearly 14,000 workers.

Palea then threatened to go on strike to demand the reinstatement of the terminated workers but the labor department assumed jurisdiction of the union's dispute with PAL on July 10 and prohibited any work stoppage.

The labor department also ordered the airline to suspend any more layoffs. The union, however, said it would go ahead with the strike plans.

The union filed a second strike notice with the labor department yesterday afternoon charging an illegal lockout, union busting and termination of union officers.

Palea's strike caused some delays in several domestic flights but failed to paralyze the airlines' operations.

As of presstime, regular flights to Tacloban, Cebu, Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, and Hong Kong proceeded with minor delays.

PAL said that as of 7 p.m. it was able to operate all its domestic and international flights out of Manila, except for two US-bound flights scheduled to depart later last night.

PAL said it dispatched 19 domestic flights and four flights to three Asian destinations.

Rolly Estabillo, PAL spokesperson, said the support of an overwhelming number of PAL's air and ground employees of management made it possible for the airline to continue its operation.

Estabillo said many rank and file employees crossed the picket line and manned their posts.

The strike was staged even as hundreds of PAL employees petitioned Barrientos to reconsider union plans to go on strike, citing that the airline may collapse.

Aside from asking Barrientos to reconsider the planned strike, the employees expressed support for PAL's rehabilitation. The employees also lamented the interference of non-PAL unions in the airlines' labor dispute.

Officials at Naia's ground handling operations said only a few PAL employees showed up for work and other airlines that use PAL ground crew had prepared contingency plans.

The non-strikers and ground crew from other airlines were expected to be capable of handling the services at the international airport during light traffic in the first half of the day but delays are expected to increase by the much busier afternoon period, according to airport sources.

No support outside Metro

The strike of the Manila-based Palea members did not seem to enjoy much support from their counterparts in the Visayas.

PAL employees on Mactan Island, Cebu, and the cities of Iloilo, Tacloban and Bacolod opted to report for work yesterday.

PAL was able to mount the scheduled flights in Tacloban, Cebu, and Iloilo yesterday although these were delayed by at least two hours.

In Bacolod, one incoming flight and another outgoing flight were cancelled, not because of the strike, but because there were only few passengers.

With the support of its ground personnel, PAL was able to mount, albeit delayed, three incoming and three outgoing flights in Mactan, Cebu; one incoming and outgoing in Bacolod and Tacloban; and two incoming and two outgoing in Iloilo.

Mike Villanueva of Palea Bacolod said that except for the group's spokesman Emilio Garingalao, most of the 32 PAL employees reported for work. But, he added, he expected more Palea members in Bacolod to join the strike in a few days.

Not a single PAL employee in Iloilo and Tacloban cities joined the strike.

Simeon Canton Jr., PAL spokesperson in Cebu, said all 400 retained PAL employees in Mactan Cebu International Airport did not join the strike.

But Clemencio Galindo, Palea board member in Cebu, belied Canton's claim, saying that at least 34 retained PAL workers joined the strike. Some 266 retrenched employees joined the mass action.

Still, he added, he was disappointed that most of the PAL ground personnel in Cebu reported for work.

The indefinite strike came days before Mr. Estrada's first State of the Nation Address and as the Philippines prepares to host an important diplomatic gathering.

The 31st Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) ministerial meeting opens this week in Manila.

PAL Cuts Provincial Flights

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/08/07/10/pal-cuts-provincial-flights

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MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - Embattled Philippine Airlines (PAL) has scrapped a provincial flight and reduced several others after 25 of its pilots indiscriminately resigned last week.

The flag carrier temporarily scrapped its Cebu-Davao flight, and reduced flights going to and from Manila and Ozamiz, Dipolog, Puerto Princesa and Cebu.

In a statement sent out on Saturday, the flag carrier said the reason for the new flight schedule was the "lean season."

"PAL released today (August 7, 2010) a new flight schedule to further optimize operational efficiency as the travel sector enters the ‘lean season'," the company said.

"The 'lean season' schedule will take effect beginning August 9 up to November 30, 2010," the Lucio Tan-owned airline said.

"There will temporarily be no operation between Cebu and Davao. This route will be reinstated during the peak season," the airline said.

PAL said it had submitted to the the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) a "new schedule with reduced frequencies include those going to and from Manila and Ozamiz, Dipolog, Puerto Princesa and Cebu."

"Capacity rationalization is routinely done in anticipation of lower passenger volume, especially tourists, during the rainy months from August to November. It also coincides with the reduced number of PAL pilots who left for jobs abroad," PAL president and chief operating officer (COO) Jaime Bautista said.

Bautista added it was during the "low" season when airlines introduce promotional programs to entice passengers to travel.

"It’s also the time of year when PAL schedules major maintenance checks on the fleet. PAL launched several promos a few weeks back," he said.

The new flight schedule is expected to be published soon in major dailies. It is also available at the PAL website at www.philippineairlines.com. Passengers may also call 855-8888 for inquiries.

PAL announced in a paid advertisement published in several newspapers on Friday that it had 38 flights cancelled from July 29 to August 3 following its dispute with pilots. It said that flights returned to normal on August 4.

Out of its 473 pilots, 25 left without notice for higher paying jobs with other airlines abroad. The flag carrier operates an average of 160 domestic and international flights per day.

Meanwhile, PAL has given its resigned pilots a 48-hour ultimatum to return to work by Monday, August 9. Otherwise, it pursue criminal cases against them for "breach of contract."

Aside from the dispute with the pilots, PAL is also dealing with threats of a work stoppage by its flight attendants.

PAL will hold a dialogue with the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP), along with the labor department, on Monday.

FASAP is demanding an increase in wages, among others.

PAL Woes Far From Over After Pilots Snub Meeting

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/08/03/10/pal-woes-far-over-after-pilots-snub-meeting

MANILA, Philippines - The labor tiff between the management of Philippine Airlines (PAL) and a number of its pilots who resigned en masse appears far from over, after the pilots snubbed a meeting called by Malacañang aimed at resolving the dispute.

The second round of talks aimed at resolving PAL’s labor row was set at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Transportation and Communications Secretary Jose "Ping" de Jesus, and Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda waited for hours at the offices of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

But the pilots who resigned over the weekend did not show up. Instead, their representatives attended the meeting to air the pilots' grievances.

They said the pilots left PAL for higher-paying jobs.

"We want them all back. We want them to serve Philippine Airlines if they still want to work with us. But if they really want to resign, we just ask them to respect the terms of our agreements, give us sufficient notice so we can train replacements, and not cancel flights because of lack of pilots," Philippine Airlines president Jaime Bautista said in an interview with ANC’s “Headstart with Karen Davila.”

Malacañang said it is trying 'moral suasion' to resolve the dispute, which has already affected the country's tourism and commerce.

"We don't know for how long this would be... [it is] up to the cabinet officials concerned and the parties involved to resolve this as soon as possible”, Lacierda said.

But the Palace is also anticipating a worst-case scenario, where it has to sanction both parties.

Transport authorities said, if no amicable settlement is reached they may re-allocate PAL’s traffic route flights and revoke the licenses of the pilots who refuse to return to work.

Since Saturday, more than 30 PAL flights have been disrupted because of the labor row.

On Tuesday, three flights to Iloilo, Bacolod, and Cagayan de Oro were rescheduled.

But PAL’s other flights have returned to normal.

The flag carrier said the pilot shortage affected only a small portion of its 160 daily trips, while international flights are not affected.

‘Takeover possible’

Malacañang will again meet with PAL management and representatives of the pilots Wednesday.

But in case PAL’s management fails to reach an agreement with its resigned pilots, Justice Secretary De Lima said government may take over the flag carrier’s operations as a last resort.

De Lima said the government hopes that PAL management and the pilots can resolve their dispute quickly, since the public is feeling the effects of their disagreement.

But De Lima warns if the two sides cannot come to terms, the government may have no choice but to take over the flag carrier.

De Lima said this could be done to protect public interest.

"'Yon na ang aking pinag-aaralan. I will be ready with my recommendations on the options that the government would have in case no amicable settlement is reached today or tomorrow. Kasi urgent itong matter na ito. It's costing a lot of inconvenience to the riding public," De Lima said.

De Lima however stressed a takeover will be the last recourse, this is since regulations can be implemented that will reign in aspects of PAL’s operations.

"So kung merong nag-breach diyan, one will have a recourse against the other," she said.

Legal experts added a government takeover need not mean that the government will inherit PAL’s billions of pesos in debt.

They said it is possible the government will only take over the management and operational details of PAL.

The PAL Employees Association (PALEA) meanwhile supports the pilots who resigned, even if they are involved in their own battle with the PAL management who recently terminated 3,000 of their members after outsourcing some of their operations.

"Reflection na ito.. tungkol sa management... [and their] treatment [towards] its workers," Alnem Pretencio, PALEA vice president, said.

As the labor disputes of PAL continue to mount, the justice department said the next few days are critical as the airline, Asia’s oldest, tries to solve its latest problem that has forced the government to intervene.

PAL's Labor Woes: Then and Now

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/insights/08/05/10/pals-labor-woes-then-and-now

Philippine Airlines is no stranger to labor disputes and pilot exodus. But it seems the Aquino administration is. The current high-profile issue of pilots leaving for greener pastures abroad is actually old news.

The 1998 labor issue of PAL easily comes to mind and, wittingly or not, it clouds the way we evaluate the 2010 version. After all, that labor issue 12 years ago has become a landmark retrenchment-related case, and one of the most celebrated in the Philippines. (Read: Retrenching workers? Don’t repeat PAL’s mistake [12] )

It also had a colorful cast: Lucio Tan, one of the country’s richest, and former President Joseph Estrada, who mediated the dispute. But while the interplay of politics and business was a major component then, the bigger factor now is the business, more than the political, environment that PAL is in.

In 1998, PAL dismissed about 5,000 pilots, flight attendants, and other airline employees who went on strike following a series of layoffs. At the time, the strike threatened to paralyze PAL’s operations.

It was a national, not just a mere labor, issue since the strike had an impact on the entire local aviation industry in the country. PAL, then considered the only flag carrier (literally and figuratively), had a virtual monopoly, thanks to decades of being a government-owned airline that shunned competition. While it was eventually privatized, its cozy relationship with the powers-that-be allowed it to remain the only major local airline servicing domestic routes and short- and long-haul destinations abroad.

Fast forward to 2010. The local airline industry has drastically changed after the Ramos-era industry deregulation has taken root. Gokongwei-led Cebu Pacific Air, which transformed into a budget airline in 2004, has already overtaken PAL. Citing figures from the Civil Aviation Board, Cebu Pacific claims that it is now the largest Philippine airline (note small caps in “airline”) after it breached the 50% market share last year. (Read press statement here [13].)

It said it flew 2.45 million domestic and international passengers from January to March this year. During the same period, PAL flew 2.34 million total passengers. The 110,000 margin maybe a slim one, but it is a sign of the times: PAL no longer dominates the Philippine sky.

PAL initially faced the headwinds after its near-death experience in 1998 following its hubris days and the Asian financial crisis that forced it to its knees. It was successfully released from receivership in 2007—nine years after it was on the brink of financial collapse. Sydney-based Center for Asia Pacific Aviation even named it the “Airline Turnaround of the Year” in 2007 for restructuring its operations and cutting costs. (Note: PAL was given exclusive use of the Terminal 2 at the Manila airport after this was included as one of the conditions of its rehabilitation.)

While it was restructuring, however, PAL’s domestic operations were limited to just the key and established domestic destinations. Its previous missionary routes have been snapped by other domestic carriers like Sea Air and Zest Air. Both mount flights to Caticlan, the jump off point to tourist haven, Boracay island.

In the world of aviation, domestic flights are key since international airlines are not allowed to fly passengers within the domestic territory. In industry parlance, this is called anti-cabotage. International airlines can only bring passengers into and out of the designated gateways in the country—such as the international airports in Manila, Clark, Cebu and Davao—but local airlines are the ones that fly passengers from those “drop-off points” to and from local destinations.

Since are we are nation of more than 7,100 islands, which make contiguous land trips impossible, and people now have access to budget air fares that can go as low as P1 (base fare, promo), and our passenger shipping industry has a tainted safety record—we like to fly.

In 1998, we had to fly PAL. This 2010, PAL is just one of the choices.

Pilot resignations

But that’s just the domestic playing field. Far beyond the influence of PAL, or even Lucio Tan, was how the global aviation industry has changed. And that’s where the current issue of pilot resignations in PAL figures.

The problem of pilot resignations is not a PAL monopoly. It’s a global phenomenon that was a direct result of the soaring capacity growth. Just take note of those news tidbits about orders from different airlines for the much-publicized new variants of Boeing and Airbus, not to mention the release of Airbus A380 and Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, both giant double-deck, wide-body planes that can accommodate 500 to over 800 passengers. These airlines are likely adding aircraft faster than pilots can be trained to fly them. That means a dogfight for scarce pilots.

And in a typical supply-demand imbalance, pilots and other qualified staff usually leave for better offers in numbers larger than ever. Usual destinations of pilots who resign due to higher pay offer are carriers from China, India, and the Middle East. The 25 pilots that haphazardly resigned from PAL were reported to have found new employment among airlines from the Middle East, apparently a favorite since salaries are tax-free. However, previous pilot exodus that hurt not just PAL, but also Cebu Pacific, was due to poachers from China and India. In India, pilot shortage due to the rapid increase of airline players became so severe that one cargo operator, Blue Dart, said it lost 80 pilots from June 2004 to April 2005.

PAL, too, has been vocal about its own problems on the exodus of key personnel. In fact, when PAL’s management embarked on a grand $1 billion expansion program after being released from receivership in 2007, it had to put on hold the delivery of the bigger and more cost efficient aircrafts it has ordered because of the alarming rate that it was losing pilots and mechanics to foreign airlines.

In a 2006 forum of local aviation officials in Manila, PAL president Jaime Bautista was quoted as saying that some 140 senior pilots and over 1,900 aircraft mechanics had left for higher paying jobs overseas in the last 5 years. From 2003 to early 2006 alone, Bautista had said it had lost 78 of its senior pilots to foreign competitors. The past resignations, however, did not come in one blow, as it did now.

Nonetheless, any professionally-run company should be prepared—operationally and financially—for the worst. Best practices show that companies must have redundancy plans in place, even taking in to account the resignation of its key people.

Is PAL prepared for these resignations?

Management seems to have been counting on the 180-day lead time that a resigning pilot should observe, as required by a government regulation designed to allow the airline to find suitable replacement. PAL officers have also cited that the contracts signed during their expensive pilot training bound them to a lock-up period with the company so they can serve out PAL’s investment on them. Legal cases against the pilots are already being pursued by PAL.

Any incident not according to the company redundancy plans—something not limited to resignations, but includes being caught in the middle of an unexpected war and even natural calamities—is truly disruptive.

These are disruptions, it seems, that affect PAL as a company, but is it disruptive enough for the entire Philippine economy that high level government intervention is needed?

After all, this is year 2010, not 1998.

Corporate slavery

http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20100806-285316/Corporate-slavery
By Solita Collas-Monsod
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:42:00 08/06/2010

FROM THE initial stories that came out in the press, one got the impression that the pilots who had left PAL were the bad guys. The stories, sourced from PAL management, went that the pilots were earning oodles of money (by local standards anyway—P500,000 a month was the figure being given for a senior pilot). Their training (“costing millions”), which had made them so highly skilled and highly priced in the first place, had been paid for by the company. And yet they left for greener pastures, and with nary a by-your-leave or backward look to boot, leaving behind unpaid debts to the company, forcing the airline to cancel scheduled flights, causing the passengers great inconvenience, reducing tourism, thus jeopardizing the economy. Such greedy, ungrateful, thoughtless, unpatriotic wretches was the structural message of these tales.

The PAL management, on the other hand, were the good guys in this version of the story. Although the pilots had broken the law and their contracts, which required them to give a six-month notice before leaving, the company was willing to forgive and forget all and would not press any charges or impose any sanctions as long as the pilots would come back. Structural message: management was not only reasonable, but ready to bend backward for the national good.

Unfortunately for the PAL spinners, the story was too big to be controlled by the usual methods of “envelopmental” journalism and the threat of advertising withdrawal. So the “bad guys” were able to get their own version across.

In this version, the pilots left because they saw how PAL had treated some of their colleagues, and weren’t about to wait for the same treatment to be meted out to them. Specifically, they saw their colleagues, both senior and junior, arbitrarily declared “redundant” and therefore retrenched/terminated, at about the same time that a couple of PAL airplanes were turned over to Air Philippines (a sister company). The retrenched pilots were then offered jobs at Air Phil, but at markedly lower (reportedly half of their former pay) salaries, because they had lost their seniority and were considered new hires. When even more PAL planes were rumored to be readied for transfer to its sister company, the pilots scrambled for jobs being offered abroad.

At first, PAL management pooh-poohed this version, and said (I heard it myself in a TV interview) that the pilots in question were not terminated but merely assigned to Air Phil on a “temporary” basis. But in the face of the first-person accounts that were being presented to the public and in Malacañang, and the fact that more and more pilots are planning to join their colleagues abroad, PAL presumably had to change its tune. So that yesterday’s headline was “PAL vows to stop moving pilots to Air Philippines.”

The above example of mendacity does not seem to be unique. The P500,000 a month salary figure quoted above—which fed the impression that pilots are greedy sons-of-bitches—is equally spurned by the pilots themselves. I talked to three pilots of varying seniority, who shared with me what they earn at PAL, and the figures, all in, averaged P350,000. Furthermore, their training, “costing millions,” turned out to be P1.9 million, but since this is a figure given in a PAL contract, the pilots feel that even this is an exaggeration, for which they are required to give five years of service.

Then there is the matter of the pilots leaving without the requisite notice, as claimed by PAL. If they did, it may be because of any or all of these reasons (again, from first-person accounts under similar circumstances): one is that PAL refused to accept their letter of resignation on the grounds that only a 30-day notice was given (per the Labor Code) and not the 180 days specified in their contract. (Anyone who reads that contract will see how onerous the terms are.) The pilots point out that the 180-day notice requirement is not a law (contrary to what was originally stated in the media, presumably courtesy of PAL). I checked this out with Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, asking her to cite the law. There is none. What is there is a memorandum circular from the POEA Board citing critical mission skills as reason for the 180-day notice—and she elaborated that this is binding only for pilots who are recruited in the Philippines—which is presumably why these pilots signed their contracts abroad.

A second reason is that PAL allegedly makes the lives of the pilots who give requisite notice a living hell: they are given the worst assignments, and their pay is withheld, supposedly while the company is making a determination of how much the pilot may be owing the company—which leaves the pilot, who has a family to support, in dire financial straits.

Apparently, if the pilots’ stories are to be believed (and I will take their word over management’s any time), PAL does not hesitate to use this time to undermine the pilot’s status with his prospective employer (what one may call a negative letter of reference), which has sometimes resulted in the withdrawal of the offer of employment; and/or to level some complaint against the pilot to “cooperative” immigration authorities or to the POEA or the NBI that will effectively stop his departure.

Let’s get real here. If the labor problems of PAL are limited to its pilots, maybe, just maybe it could be the pilots’ fault. But PAL has problems with its flight crews and ground crews as well. Corporate family? Corporate slavery, more like it.

"Waste of Time": PAL officials, pilots meet doesn’t take off

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100804-284979/PAL-officials-pilots-meet-doesnt-take-off

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PHILIPPINE AIRLINES (PAL) management has snubbed a meeting with a group of pilots organized by Malacañang, aimed at resolving the shortage of crewmen to fly the company’s workhorse Airbus A320 aircraft.

PAL president Jaime J. Bautista said it would be a “waste of time” to meet with the group claiming to represent the resigned pilots.

“The pilots who resigned have left the country already and the group that met with government [officials Tuesday night], they are not our pilots,” he said.

Bautista told the Inquirer that “PAL pilots don’t have a labor union.”

Malacañang was supposed to meet with the airline’s management and the 25 pilots who recently resigned to finally meet face-to-face on Wednesday so both sides could resolve problems that led to a number of flight cancellations since last weekend.

The Palace has ruled out a takeover of PAL, citing the state’s own financial and technical limitations.

The lack of pilots has forced PAL to scrap three flights daily to as many destinations. Passengers booked on the cancelled flights are to be assigned to other flights within the same day of their original schedule.

Transportation Secretary Jose de Jesus met with PAL management, led by chair Lucio Tan on Monday and with the pilots contingent, led by the Association of Airline Pilots in the Philippines (Alpap), the day after.

Five-man team

The five-man team that claimed to represent the pilots included retired airmen and retired PAL pilots.

Bautista said the company would only be willing to meet with the actual pilots who resigned. “Otherwise, it would be a waste of time,” he said.

Alpap, composed of Filipino pilots working in the country and abroad, said it had been approached by most of the 25 resigned pilots themselves. But the 25 have all left the country already, Elmer Peña, Alpap president, said.

“We have been talking to the government and we are willing to meet with PAL,” said Peña. Alpap used to be a PAL labor union before being booted out a decade ago.

Closest thing

He said Alpap was the closest thing that the pilots had to an organized representative because PAL, following the 1998 strike, had barred its pilots from forming labor unions. Both PAL’s ground employees and flight attendants are represented by unions.

“It’s easier for PAL to not be talking to a labor union because that way, it can impose its will on its pilots,” Peña said.

The 13 captains and 12 first officers who recently resigned one after the other were reportedly lured by higher-paying jobs abroad.

Poor conditions

Alpap, however, said the pilots resigned due to poor working conditions. It said pilots feared for their own jobs after several of their colleagues were forced to work for PAL sister company Air Philippines, the group’s answer to the dominance of Gokongwei-led Cebu Pacific.

Air Philippines pilots were allegedly given lower salaries.

The pilots who left PAL were said to have stopped reporting for work immediately after filing their resignation letters.

The move is in violation of the law-mandated six-month notice for pilots who plan to resign.

The rule is meant to give companies more time to train replacements for the pilots, who are considered to be doing “mission critical” tasks.

PAL earlier rejected the resignations and ordered the pilots to return to work or face criminal and administrative charges. It later said that it would not file charges against pilots who return to help PAL operations return to normal.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda told reporters on Wednesday that the talks were continuing, but appeared to douse hopes of an immediate breakthrough.

“We cannot guarantee that it would be resolved this week,” he said.

Other issues

“We thought it was just a simple case of higher wages luring pilots to seek jobs elsewhere,” Lacierda said.

But he said the pilots’ union had since brought out more complaints against the management.

Lacierda said Malacañang was not ready to take a more active role in resolving the dispute and would rather watch things unfold in separate talks conducted by Palace officials with PAL management and the pilots.

PAL has been beset by growing labor unrest for months with ground crews and flight attendants also threatening strikes.

The airline may post a loss in its current fiscal year because of pilot trouble that led to flight cancellations, its listed parent said.

PAL had said it expected to return to profitability in the 12 months to March 2011 after posting a net loss of $14.3 million in its previous fiscal year.

“We wish to confirm that (PAL) may have to revise its targets ... because the cancellation of several flights have indeed affected the revenue of PAL,” PAL Holdings said in a statement. With reports from Cathy Yamsuan and AFP

KMU to Aquino: Investigate Lucio Tan’s Profits, Anti-labor Schemes

http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/08/05/kmu-to-aquino-investigate-lucio-tan’s-profits-anti-labor-schemes/

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As the controversy over the mass resignation of Philippine Airlines’ pilots since last Saturday rages on, labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno called on President Aquino to investigate PAL owner Lucio Tan’s profits and anti-labor schemes, saying labor issues are behind the recent imbroglio in the national flag carrier.

KMU made the call in a picket in front of PAL’s corporate office in Ayala Avenue this morning, where the labor center condemned the business tycoon for “intensifying the exploitation and causing the lay-off of workers” in the airline company.

Attending the picket were members of the PAL Employees’ Union or Palea, the union of PAL’s ground employees, the Laban ng Bagong Palea, KMU, and Anakpawis partylist.

“The PAL management continues to bombard us with Lucio Tan’s canard that the pilots who resigned were merely motivated by personal interests. If there is a party to this issue that has consistently advanced nothing but his personal interests, that is Lucio Tan,” said Roger Soluta, KMU general secretary.

“We are therefore calling on the Aquino regime: investigate and expose Tan’s profiteering and anti-labor schemes. Not only will this get us to the bottom of the pilots’ resignation, more importantly, this will be a first step in improving the worsening lot of PAL workers,” Soluta added.

The labor center said the investigation that it is calling for will force open “no less than a can of worms” that will expose the PAL management’s statements “for what they really are – lies in the service of superprofits.”

“Accusations that the pilots were thinking only of their own interests when they resigned will be refuted by no less than a can of worms of anti-labor schemes: increases in workloads and decreases in wages, illegal termination, moratorium in CBA negotiations, promotion of contractualization, use of dummy corporations, among others,” Soluta added.

“In various venues, and especially during negotiations for collective bargaining agreements, the PAL management is often heard whining about decreasing profits and the possibility of closing down. How could that be, when Lucio Tan continues to be the second richest Filipino with a net profit of P90 billion? When PAL continues to be the top carrier in the country, handling 35% of international flights?”

Soluta said investigating Tan’s profits and labor practices will yield “instructive insights” into the country’s labor laws and policies.

“We will definitely be shocked by how much of what Tan does in PAL and his other companies are illegal. But we will also be shocked by how much of his profiteering and anti-labor schemes are made legal, sanctioned by the country’s anti-worker labor laws and policies,” Soluta concluded.

A breath of Fresh Air for High Court

http://www.bworldonline.com/main/content.php?id=15307

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Why does World Billionaire Lucio Tan Have Such a Troubled Airline?

http://raissarobles.com/2010/08/03/why-does-world-billionaire-lucio-tan-have-such-a-troubled-airline/

http://truthaboutluciotan.blogspot.com/2010/08/why-does-world-billionaire-lucio-tan.html

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A breath of fresh air for high court

Calling A Spade... -- By Solita Collas-Monsod

PNoy will be appointing three Supreme Court associate justices within his first year of office (barring untimely deaths or resignations in the court) -- one immediately to replace Renato Corona who was Gloria Arroyo’s midnight appointee as chief justice, and two by June next year to replace Conchita Carpio Morales and Eduardo Antonio Nachura who will both be reaching retirement age.

A fourth vacancy in the court will occur in May 2014, when Roberto A. Abad retires. And a fifth vacancy will definitely come up on April 14, 2016, when Martin Villarama turns 70 -- still within PNoy’s term -- but unless PNoy decides to do a Gloria Arroyo, that vacancy will be filled up by the next president.

I have never lobbied for a Supreme Court wannabe, but I am making an exception this time, for the most obvious of reasons: the Supreme Court’s reputation is arguably at its nadir, what with the poor quality of some of its decisions, and the increasing frequency of its somersaulting on its better ones.

Two examples of the former are of course the mental gymnastics and leaps of logic that accompanied the decision that the Supreme Court (and only the Supreme Court) appointments were exempt from the constitutional provision against midnight appointments; and the latest booboo where the ponente not only plagiarized (which is bad enough) but misunderstood what he was plagiarizing, thinking that it supported his argument (which was really the pits -- his mistake was pointed out not only by Philippine lawyers, but by the author of the plagiarized work). Worse, some of his colleagues tried to defend him.

With respect to the somersaulting, it is enough to point out that in the 30-year period between 1970 (the earliest case cited where a second motion of reconsideration or MR was allowed by the SC) and 2000, only three second-MRs were entertained by the high court. But between 2002 and 2008, the number tripled to nine. There is more: In 2009, in the case involving the cityhood of 16 municipalities, a THIRD MR was entertained, which ended up reversing the original decision. Good grief.

Thus the Supreme Court is in dire need of beefing up, as it were, and with all due apologies to the rest of those on the JBC short list, I am rooting for the appointment of Ma. Lourdes "Meilou" Sereno as part of that process of improvement and reform.

I am in good company, actually. Retired SC Associate Justice Florentino "Toy" Feliciano is also rooting for her. Unfortunately, neither he nor I can be considered as "powerful" backers -- you have to be an important politician or a large campaign contributor or part of the inner circle to qualify for that -- so I am hoping to convince the public of her worth so they can communicate their support to PNoy himself.

What is so special about Sereno? That she has a first-rate mind, there is no doubt. She got the best of education through scholarships because of that intellect (her parents were not wealthy) -- an undergraduate degree in economics from the Ateneo de Manila University, and her law degree (valedictorian) from UP. Plus a graduate law degree from the University of Michigan, where she was again on scholarship. She taught at the UP College of Law for 20 years, and at various times and is now executive director of the Asian Institute of Management’s public policy think tank.

So far, though, that kind of record can be matched by any number of people. What is matchless about her -- and now we’re getting into the nitty-gritty -- is, first, that she is no stranger to judicial reform, being the principal architect of the first major judicial reform program under the Narvasa Court in 1996, and as a consultant to the World Bank, USAID, and UNDP on several areas of judicial reform. Thus she will be in the best position to make sure of their implementation once she is on the "inside", i.e., a member of the court.

Moreover, she is no stranger to management and administration -- aside from her executive directorships, she was elected chair in 1999 of the Steering Committee of Erap Estrada’s Preparatory Commission on Constitutional Reform, and saw to it that the report was completed ahead of time -- so the probability is very high that she will have no case backlogs .

Third, she is computer literate to boot, and recognizing the potential of technology, established and became president of the first business community of legal scholars, Accesslaw (together with the likes of SC Justice Jose Campos and Haydee Yorac). One can only imagine what she will be able to do to get the SC records straightened out and updated (the SC at this point does not even know what its case backlog is -- at least as far as the Philippine Statistical Yearbook is concerned).

Fourth, she has not only taught in UP (and the Philippine Judicial Academy), but in the Hague Academy of International Law (Netherlands), the University of Western Australia and Murdoch University (both in Western Australia). Her papers are have also been published abroad. Her stature is international.

Fifth, on top of all that, she is not only an excellent legal teacher, but an excellent legal practitioner as well -- served as counsel at the Appellate Body of the WTO in Geneva, Switzerland, and more recently, won (as co-counsel with Toy Feliciano) the two largest international cases (both involving Fraport and PIATCO) involving the Philippines -- involving over a billion dollars, going head to head with top international lawyers. Not to mention she was the lawyer who convinced the Supreme Court that the GRP-MILF agreement was unconstitutional. National AND international stature.

As if that weren’t enough, Toy Feliciano provides a sixth and extremely important argument in her favor: he says he is convinced that she does not suffer from any extraordinary attraction to money or the comforts and pleasures that money might be expected to bring -- and her husband shares her basic human and professional values. Toy is of the firm belief that she would resist any egregious effort to influence her thinking and decision about the legal merits of any case that she may be assigned to as ponente or otherwise comes before the Court for decision...in other words, she cannot be bought.

Need I say more? No, but I will end the spiel on Meilou by saying that apparently, in the public interview with the JBC, Chief Justice Corona seemed to take offense at her advocacy for reforms. He also asked her whether it was true that two of her classes in UP asked for her removal from the college because of her absences (not true; case was to force her to change their grades; case dismissed, and the valedictorian of that class, when he topped the bar, cited her excellent teaching as one of the major reasons for his performance). In any case, the rumor is that Corona did not vote for her -- in spite of her fantastic CV.

Another speculation: that he was miffed at her because she had previously sent him a fax protesting his midnight appointment.

Please to understand, reader, that I have met Sereno only twice in my life -- our major contact, if it can be called that, is that we were on opposite sides of the JPEPA issue. But I admire her work. And her work ethic. She will be the breath of fresh air that the Supreme Court so badly needs at this point.

And while we are on the topic of important appointments, I have said it before, and I will say it again: I hope Justice Secretary Leila de Lima very seriously considers, and plugs for the appointment of Catalino Generillo Jr. either as head of PCGG, or the commissioner in charge of prosecuting the case against Lucio Tan, et. al.

If Generillo was such a threat to Tan that Tan’s lawyer and Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera had him fired, then that should be the biggest recommendation for him. He certainly has the qualifications for the job, but most importantly, he is as familiar with the case as he is with the back of his hand.

It should be remembered that it was Haydee Yorac who took him into the PCGG. And like Sereno, he cannot be bought. Competence. Integrity. In spades.