LIA owner denies there was sabotage

LAOAG CITY – Laoag International Airlines (LIA) owner Paul Ng retracted yesterday his claim that sabotage was the cause of Monday’s crash of his Fokker-27 plane that resulted in the death of 19 passengers.

"I was not able to catch on the right phrase during the (Tuesday) interview. That was not what I meant," Ng said, retracting his claim that business rivals put water in the aircraft’s fuel tank, causing it to crash on Manila Bay.

Ng stressed that he and his airline will cooperate with aviation authorities in the ongoing investigation of the crash of Flight 585.

"We will cooperate with the investigators and get (to) the bottom of the incident," he told reporters at his seaside mansion in Barangay Calaba here.

Ng also belied reports that his company failed to fulfill the commitment it made to modernize when it was applying for its congressional franchise.

He said LIA has upgraded its fleet with the acquisition of two Fokker-100 planes and has succeeded in "dominating" the Manila-Laoag-Batanes route.

LIA is also the ground handler of a Chinese airline at the Laoag International Airport where it flies three times a week from Kaoshiung, Taiwan.

Ng said LIA has helped boost tourism in Ilocos Norte and the rest of Northern Luzon.

Ng is married to a Chinese Ilocana who operates a drugstore and a dollar remittance center, and used to own a classy bar-restaurant here named Airways.

Earlier yesterday at the House of Representatives, Rep. Imee Marcos (KBL, Ilocos Norte) urged Ng to name the people he claimed sabotaged the Fokker-27 plane.

"That is a very serious allegation," Marcos said. "He should give proof by naming whoever among his competitors he thinks was behind this dreadful incident."

She said if Ng cannot prove his claim, he should shut up and not try to muddle the investigation into the crash by "peddling the sabotage yarn."

She said the airline owner should allow investigators to do their job without being distracted by accusations that cannot be supported with evidence.

Marcos also urged Ng to extend full assistance to the families of crash victims as she has received complaints that Ng and other airline managers "were neglecting their duty to take care of these families."

In the Senate, Sen. Ramon Magsaysay assailed the claim of Ng and said that if the claim were true, LIA should have implemented security measures prior to the flight.

The airline management, Magsaysay said, was "equally liable under the alleged circumstances and this only pointed to gross negligence on the part of management, said Magsaysay, whose father, President Ramon Magsaysay, died when his plane "Pinatubo" crashed on Mt. Manunggal in Cebu in March 1957.

Magsaysay said he was calling for an "independent and thorough" investigation of the tragedy, saying the Air Transportation Office (ATO) may not be able to render an impartial and unbiased report. He did not elaborate.

He said investigators into the plane crash could tap the services of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Senate President Franklin Drilon said a congressional inquiry of the plane crash has been referred to the Senate committee on public services as a result of a privilege speech delivered by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

Drilon said the committee would look into reports that the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) granted LIA an operating permit even without a franchise from Congress.

Last Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III revealed that LIA was operating by virtue of an executive order issued by then President Fidel Ramos even before it received a congressional franchise in 2001. – With Jess Diaz, Sammy Santos