Stung by an embarrassing situation, flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is readying charges against its pilots who abandoned their jobs Saturday, resulting in a number of canceled or delayed flights and stranded passengers.

PAL spokesman Jonathan Gesmundo said PAL officials will discuss and finalize on Monday the charges to be slapped on the pilots, as it assured the public that it is exhausting all means to normalize operations at the soonest possible time.

President Aquino also stepped into the row between PAL and its pilots over the weekend in a bid to prevent further inconvenience to the riding public and disruption to the domestic economy.

The President has directed three of his Cabinet secretaries to meet separately on Monday with PAL management and the group of airline pilots to resolve the row.

“The Executive Secretary together with the Secretary of Department of Transportation and Communication and at the minimum the DoLE (Department of Labor and Employment) secretary and probably the DoJ (Department of Justice) secretary also will be sitting down with the management and airline pilots association tomorrow (Monday). I understand it will be two separate meetings,” he told reporters after attending a mass commemorating the first death anniversary of President Corazon Aquino at the La Salle Greenhills, San Juan.

“The end point being to address the situation and to remind everybody, PAL for instance that they do have obligations when they secured the franchise to operate this public conveyance,” he added.

The government dialogues also sought to determine any accountability of the concerned groups for the latest economic disturbance.

The President also made clear that even the pilots also have an obligation under the country’s laws, warning that they could face charges in court if the reason behind the resignation is unwarranted.

“There has been disruption to our tourism efforts and to other aspects of the economy that would need their services. If this is not warranted, they lay themselves open with appropriate charges,” he said.

Mr. Aquino expressed hopes the government dialogues with the PAL management and the pilots on Monday would result to a resolution to the problem before the economy is affected.

“That’s the agenda tomorrow (Monday). What are the rules and regulations these pilots have violated with their indiscriminate resignation?” Gesmundo said of the top-level PAL meeting.

The meeting is expected to be held Monday, after it failed to push through last Saturday.

“We had an agreement that they must stay with PAL for a number of years in exchange for the company shouldering their expenses in schooling and training. It pains us that the other carriers which pirated our pilots will be the ones who will benefit...they are now well-trained,” Gesmundo said in a radio report.

One of the international flights affected (Manila-Hongkong) has returned to normal since Sunday.
Several domestic flights however, have yet to take off, marooning hundreds of passengers.

These flights were PR-181 and 182, to and from Cagayan; PR-847 and 848, to and from Cebu; PR-133 and 134, to and from Bacolod ; and PR-147 and 148, to and from Iloilo.

Gesmundo said PAL is looking into adjusting the flight schedules of its other pilots to address the emergency situation. “We are studying their schedule, how many pilots are available, where do we deploy or assign them,” he said in a radio interview.

He assured that PAL's reserved pilots in its fleet will pick up the vacuum caused by those who left without permission.

As of press time however, the adjustment in flight schedules is not yet clear as well as the timetable on how long it will take PAL management to resolve the issue.

In meantime, Gesmundo said they can only notify passengers of changes in flight schedules as soon as they make adjustments.

On top of severely dislocating hundreds of innocent passengers, Gesmundo said the erring pilots violated the regulation of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration that mandated a six-month notification before pilots leave their job.

He also said the abrupt resignation of at least a dozen pilots also violated the company rule that they must notify PAL 30 days before they actually leave, so as not to disrupt operations.

The PAL management scrambled for new flight schedules after it turned out, the pilots had "indiscriminately resigned" from their jobs in exchange for higher salary offers abroad.

In a statement sent to the Manila Bulletin, PAL said it rejected the resignation of more than two dozen pilots.

The flag-carrier called on its pilots to respect their existing contracts with PAL and demanded that they immediately return to work within seven days or face civil, criminal and administrative charges.