"All they have to do is call us and we're open," said a Philippine aviation official yesterday, in the wake of the suspension of direct flights between Taipei and Manila.
If it were only that simple.
"Had the [Taiwan-Philippines] airline negotiations been conducted in terms of national and public interest, it should not have been difficult to reach a compromise and we would not be in a lose-lose situation as it stands now," said a senior foreign ministry official involved in the aviation negotiations which ended last week with a suspension of direct flights between the two countries.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"The Philippine government's position is the same as the interests of Philippine Airlines," he said.
A column in the Oct. 2 edition of the Philippine Daily Inquirer also questioned which side its government was on.
Some have painted the row as a "Philippines vs. Taiwan" or "PAL vs. Taiwanese airlines" issue, the column said, but it is "PAL [or Lucio Tan] vs. the Filipino people."
Lucio Tan (
Estrada asked Tan to take over in hopes that the self-made billionaire's business expertise could help resuscitate PAL.
However, hopes of a recovery dimmed when a labor strike began last year shortly after Tan took over.
In an attempt to save the airline, PAL is renegotiating aviation agreements with other countries, including Taiwan.
Estrada claimed Taiwan carriers were poaching PAL's passengers by selling seats cheaply to those who route through Taipei to a third destination.
Last week, the Philippines Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) again unilaterally withdrew a 1996 aviation agreement and insisted that China Airlines (CAL) and Eva Air reduce their weekly Taipei-Manila passenger seats to 3,000 per week or else face termination of air links.
"The key point in the unresolved air dispute between Taiwan and the Philippines is the US$100 million difference in revenue per year," PAL said in a press release issued on Tuesday.
Taiwan carriers had offered to reduce passenger capacity to 6,500 per week from the 9,500 they were carrying under the now defunct 1996 air agreement.
Taiwan's representative to the Philippines, Chan Hsien-ching (詹憲卿), told the Taipei Times, "Manila claimed from the very beginning that the previous aviation agreement was unfair to them, but how would it be possible that an agreement reached by both sides could favor one side ... why would they sign it in the first place?" he asked.
According to negotiators on both sides, Taiwanese airlines carry an average of 3,000 passengers traveling strictly between Taipei and Manila. Disagreements over the Fifth and Sixth Freedom -- which allows carriers to fly to a third destination -- are one of the causes of the breakdown in negotiations.
"Flights to the US are the bread-and-butter of airlines," said a Philippine official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"So terminating the air link is actually a gain for PAL because now they get the chunk of the remaining 3,500 passengers who fly to the US from the Philippines."
When Tan was in Taipei for an economic conference last month, he admitted that cutting links would save PAL -- but after meeting with President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) he promised PAL would not sever aviation ties with the island.
The director of Taiwan's foreign ministry's East Asia and Pacific Affairs Department, Shih Ting (
The Philippines unilaterally declared the abrogation of the 1996 aviation agreement in July. Then representatives from the Manila Economic Cultural Office (MECO) in Manila came to Taiwan and signed a letter of intent dated Aug. 14 to withdraw its statement breaking the agreement.
On Sept. 13, PAL demanded Taiwan carriers reduce passenger seats to 4,000 per week and declared two days later that it was prepared to terminate its air link with Taiwan.
Then the CAB resolution on Sept. 20 demanded CAL and Eva Air reduce passenger seats to 3,000 per week or PAL would sever its air links.
Aviation talks took another turn when, at the suggestion of Estrada's economic advisors to extend the negotiation for one more month, the foreign ministry decided to give Estrada one more day to make a final decision. This came after PAL's announcement that it was suspending flights to Taipei on Sept. 30.
Recognizing that Estrada was unlikely to change his mind, Taiwan suspended air links on Oct. 1.
"Whether or not bilateral air traffic will resume depends on future negotiations," said Shih.
Some Philippine officials suggested it may have been difficult for Estrada's pro-Taiwan economic advisors to influence his decision because he was away with Tan for a sizable amount of time in September.
"Tan accompanied Estrada on his trip to South America in mid-September and when he went to New York for the UN assembly," said another Philippine official who declined to be named.
"Given the good personal relations between Tan and Estrada and the time factor, it's not a surprise why he made such a decision," he said.
"Government officials on both sides said undiplomatic things that were not helpful to bilateral relations ... things could have been presented more diplomatically," Philippine officials said.
They also conceded that it was difficult for Taiwan to save face in a `take-it-or-leave-it' negotiation
The Philippines assistant foreign secretary Franklin Ebdalin offended Taiwan officials when he claimed that Manila had no obligation to uphold the 1996 aviation contract since it was "technically a private agreement" and not one made between two states.
He later said he was expressing a personal opinion.
Taiwan's political leaders were also quite undiplomatic when they singled out the late Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos as an example of how voters can elect the "wrong man" who will lead a nation downhill.
Manila sent out feelers to resume talks again this week, as officials said Estrada had received a letter from Chan asking to resume talks.
Chan, however, denied the reports.
On Tuesday, Ebdalin was quoted as saying Manila was willing to compromise on the seat numbers.
"If they [Taiwan] will scale down and show us that 6,500 is not a rigid number then we can work out ways to reach a solution," he said.
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