Clark airport workers to keep jobs

CLARK FREEPORT -- Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) Chairman Nestor Mangio denied reports Friday that some 300 workers of the state-owned firm will lose their jobs.

This developed amid reports that a Kuwaiti firm will take over the operations of Clark Civil Aviation Complex in Clark Freeport.

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But Mangio, in a press statement, said: “There is no truth that the more than 300 workers of CIAC will lose their jobs. In fact they would be all absorbed and the Labor Code of the Philippines would be followed properly.”

The CIAC workers staged a rally on Thursday and expressed their indignation over the plan to let the Kuwait-based firm handle the operations of Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA).

The Al-Mal Pride Consortium composed of the Al Kharafi Group and Pride, which is allegedly owned by three politicians in Batangas, offered to develop DMIA’s Terminal 1, 2 and 3. The current DMIA Terminal 1 is the “bread and butter” of CIAC where most of the airport’s operating expenses and salaries come from.

CIAC union president Marvin Pineda said the "deal" would be “disadvantageous” to the Philippine Government.

The workers then held posters saying: “I love CIAC,” “Save CIAC” and “Do not sell Philippine sovereignty” and “No to Al Kharafi.”

The group asked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to junk the proposal of the Kuwaiti firm to develop the DMIA, now one of the busiest airports in the country.

“We don’t want other nations to handle the airport as Filipinos are more capable,” Pineda said.

Based on the proposal, the DMIA terminal 1 will be handed to the Kuwaiti firm for $20 million. CIAC is expected to earn $120 million in the next 45 years.

Al Mal said it will invest $100 million for the construction of DMIA Terminal 2 under a 70:30 ownership scheme, which is against Philippine laws that require a 60:40 sharing in favor of the Philippines.

The consortium also stipulates that DMIA Terminal 3 will be developed under a clause that no airport will be developed within a 50 kilometer radius.

The Kuwaiti proposal was already junked by the CIAC Board but Mangio had been allegedly misleading President Arroyo into believing that the Kuwaiti group will invest $1.2 billion through a joint venture with CIAC.

The CIAC Board said it will ask Mangio to “cut and cut cleanly.” As far as the CIAC Board is concerned, the Kuwaiti proposal is already gone.

Some 336 employees of CIAC will reportedly lose their jobs in the event of a Kuwaiti takeover. Under Philippine laws, government workers are prohibited from applying in a private firm for one year.

But Mangio assured the workers that they will not be affected and that they would be all absorbed.

“I had already talked to them about this and again I assured them not a single worker would be displaced and laws would be followed,” he said.

Mangio also said he is not misleading President Arroyo, saying “he always reports to her on the developments of the negotiations with the Al Kharafi.”

He explained that the $20 million offer to develop Terminal 1 is still under negotiations, stressing that Al Kharafi will undergo "competitive challenge" under the Joint Venture Selection Committee (JVSC) rules and regulations.

He said the offer of Al Kharafi is not yet final as “it would be subjected to Competitive Challenge and this is under the Philippine Laws.”