MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino has approved the salary increases and bonuses given to Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) workers since 2012, overriding a ruling by two government agencies disallowing these benefits.
Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. issued a memorandum on Friday to Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya and Cesar Villanueva, chairperson of the Governance Commission on Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations (GCG), telling them that Malacañang has approved the benefits granted to CAAP personnel.
The CAAP employees’ union was protesting a Commission on Audit (COA) notice, issued in June 2015, suspending the salary increase and disallowing bonuses to technical personnel. The benefits were granted by the CAAP board in a resolution issued in 2012.
The COA said the benefits must be approved by the GCG, which had disallowed them, the CAAP said.
The union said under the COA ruling, a technical employee is supposed to return approximately P800,000 to P1 million in increases and benefits.
Exception
William Hotchkiss III, CAAP director general, said the President visited him on April 22 and told him he does not “usually make ex post facto decisions. However, I am making an exception in the case of the CAAP. Please tell your men.”
Aquino stepped in after CAAP workers hung black “Mayday, Mayday!” streamers from at least 23 airport control towers all over the country on April 15. The term is an international distress signal used by aircraft, ship and radio operators.
Aquino acknowledged the CAAP employees’ efforts in bringing the country’s aviation status to Category 1, Hotchkiss said.
He said he hopes that CAAP personnel would “find the inspiration to continue carrying out their duties as aviation professionals and public servants.”
The CAAP has around 3,500 regular workers, most of whom are technical personnel involved in air traffic management, who were instrumental in solving three of the Philippines’ problems: the country’s inclusion in the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO’s) list of countries with significant safety concerns; the European Union’s ban on Philippine carriers; and Philippine civil aviation’s downgrade by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to a Category 2 rating.
CAAP officials and employees successfully removed the Philippines from the ICAO list, lifted the ban on the country’s air carriers on European skies and restored the country’s FAA Category 1 rating, Hotchkiss said.
He added that the CAAP board granted bonuses and salary increases to recognize the achievement.