Amid labor tiff between the management of Philippine Airlines (PAL) and a number of its pilots, Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said Wednesday that the government should not engaged itself in the airline business.

The Department of Finance (DoF) chief also revealed that the government is not even talking about a possible takeover during its recent meetings with PAL representatives.

“The government has no business being in airline. We're confident that with reasonable representatives from both side, they will be able to resolve that,” Purisima told reporters.

Earlier, the private sector aired its opposition to government taking over the beleaguered flag carrier Philippine Airlines saying such move would not only create unhealthy and unfair competition in the airline industry but also send a wrong signal to investors.

The business community aired their position in light of calls by some sectors for government to takeover PAL in light of the continuing disruptions of its flights as pilots refused to return to work.
Employers Confederation of the Philippines president Edgardo B. Lacson said that government, which is supposed to be a business enabler, should not be in business.

“It is always unhealthy for government to take over a private business because government should not be in business and should not be a competitor to the private enterprise,” Lacson said.

“Besides, with the cumbersome audit procedure of the government, it will not make money in an airline industry, which requires quick decisions and actions. In government, you have to undertake one month notice for bidding of a particular procurement and such would only hamper the operations of a private enterprise,” Lacson said.

Jesus L. Arranza, chairman of the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI), said he strongly disagreed for a government takeover.

“A government takeover of PAL would only create a wrong signal not just to local business community, but create an atmosphere of instability of our country to foreign investors,” Arranza said.

He recalled that takeover of a private utility company only happened during the Martial Law years.
“We are not in a Martial Law regime,” Arranza said.

In case the dispute between the PAL management and its 25 pilots is not resolved, Purisima said there are other airline companies that can takeover the routes that have been affected.

“I believe there are other carriers and there are other options just in case they are not able to resolve their issue,” he said.

“This is a labor management issue in a private corporation and we encouraged both side to sit down. We encouraged both of them to resolve this as quickly as possible,” Purisima added.

He also reminded PAL of its obligation that it is a public utility and therefore the public cannot be held hostage in a management-labor dispute.

The government and PAL have joined hands in asking the 25 resigned pilots to return to work in the interest of the flying public after a constructive meeting in Malacañang.

“The government requested PAL to take back the resigned pilots without sanctions. We agreed,” Jaime J. Bautista, PAL president said.

As this developed, PAL said its flight operations returned to normal on Tuesday after it announced new flight schedules for three destinations previously affected by flight cancellations.