71 more flights canceled as strike cripples PAL

PHILIPPINE Airlines said it was operating on a reduced schedule Thursday with 71 flights canceled, 28 of them to international destinations, as it entered the third day of a protest by its ground workers.

The airline also transferred 12 domestic flights to Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport as its hub in Terminal 2 struggled with the fallout from the ground workers’ strike that started Tuesday.

Flights to and from Roxas, Cagayan de Oro, Tagbilaran, Iloilo, Tacloban and Puerto Princesa were transferred to Terminal 3.

Transport Secretary Manuel Roxas II said his department would monitor the crisis and make sure the dispute did not affect the safety of passengers.

“We provide support as may be requested,” Roxas said, adding he was satisfied with the way airport officials were dealing with the situation.

But PAL urged airport authorities to clear the traffic caused by protesters from the Philippine Airlines Employees Association, which was causing further flight delays and frustrating efforts to bring operations back to normal.

“Despite our best efforts to restore normalcy at NAIA Terminal 2, it is unfortunate that the union still persists in hampering our airport operations and preventing the delivery of service to our passengers,” the airline said.

Earlier, management said striking workers damaged some ground equipment, compounding the flight delays.

Airline president Jaime Bautista said the operations in its Manila hub were still running at only 50 percent.

He said the airline had endorsed some of its passengers to partner airlines to reduce the inconvenience to them.

The union on Thursday dismissed threats that the government would charge them with economic sabotage.

“We are confident that Palea’s protest against contractualization last Tuesday is within the bounds of the constitutionally guaranteed right to seek redress of grievances,” union president Gerry Rivera said.

He said it was the airline, not the workers, that shut down the company’s computer system and canceled the flights after the protest began.

The union also announced it will hold a big protest at the airport today, the last day of work for the 2,600 PAL employees who are being laid off as part of the airline’s program to outsource ground services.

The union has set up a protest camp manned by several hundred members outside PAL’s In-Flight Center along MIA Road near Terminal 2.

“We call on PALEA members to report for duty at the protest camp since PAL has locked us out of our workplace at Terminal 2 and other offices,” Rivera said.

The union and other labor groups are scheduled to hold rallies in Davao. –Jeremiah F. de Guzman, Eric Apolonio and Vito Barcelo, Manila Standard Today