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Cusi to stay as CAAP dir-gen | ABS-CBN News | Latest Philippine Headlines, Breaking News, Video, Analysis, Features
MANILA, Philippines - The head of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) will stay at his post, Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda confirmed on Monday.
President Aquino had chosen a replacement for CAAP director-general Alfonso Cusi, but the latter changed his mind about submitting a courtesy resignation.
Cusi took over the helm of CAAP on March 3, 2010 after withdrawing from a congressional race in Oriental Mindoro.
His appointment was controversial because it was done on the eve of an election ban.
His term was not co-terminus with former President Gloria Arroyo, and will end on March 2014, airport officials had said.
During his first 100 days in office, Cusi was able to make a dent in the Flight Standard and Inspectorate Service after he asked the National Bureau of Investigation to look into claims that pilots were being sold licenses without requiring them to take an examination.
As CAAP chief, he also prevented the Middle East and Australia from blacklisting Philippine carriers after assuring them that local airlines were safe.
CAAP is currently in the process of complying with safety issues raised by the Federal Aviation Administration that led to the downgrading of the Philippines' rating to Category 2 from 1.
The European Union, in March, banned all carriers from the Philippines from mounting flights to the 27-country bloc due to safety concerns