The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines

[parsifal]

consultants, oversight committee

an oversight committee would be another clog in our already over-extended bureacratic red tape. what the house could do is to look into the development program of the CAAP and determine if their budget is being used towards the accomplishment of their programs. the house could also look into what direction the CAAP is bringing the aviation industry. As it is, there seem to be no significant effort to really leapfrog us into the company of the world class airports in the region. Among the capital airports in the region, Manila may as well be rank way below Bangkok, Singapore, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Hongkong, Taipei, Incheon, Guangzhou, Osaka and others. These are all world class airports in terms of terminals, runway and airport facilities and navigational aids. In all these airports, precision instrument approaches are the norm. In Manila, we are still using non-precision approaches for landing, Needless to say, precision approaches provide or ensure more safe landing in case of inclement weather. The only world class things in Manila are the airliine pilots, cabin crew, mechanics and the ATC controllers. That is why you can see them in different parts of the world serving in other airlines of foreign countries. Clark has been named as the international airport of the country but so far no serious effort is being pursued towards this dream. Manila intl airport has no more space for expansion.
The CAAP has resorted to consultants because they do not have enough qualified technical people. Technical people do not seek employment in government agencies like the CAAP because they get better pay in private companies or abroad. That is why the civil service law needs to be revised. The pilot checkers organic to CAAP, for instance, are mostly turbo-prop pilots and are not, for all intents and purposes, qualified to check the airline jet pilots. The consultants resorted to are retired airline pilots which may well be the best option.