MANILA, Philippines — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that conducted a five-day review of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said there remain some elements that still need to be addressed before the final audit by the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA).

These are: Primary Aviation Legislation, Licensing & Certification Obligations, and Resolution on Safety Issues, according to FAA team leader Jacques Astre.

He made the report during an exit briefing at the CAAP headquarters in Pasay City last Friday, in the presence of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) Secretary Mar Roxas, CAAP Director General Ramon S. Gutierrez, and other government officials.

IASA is a branch of the FAA that grades the aviation compliance of some 190 member-countries of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

The actual audit for the CAAP is scheduled sometime in February, Gutierrez said.

Astre explained that the eight critical elements of a safety oversight system that were found in Philippine civil aviation were like a pyramid, needing a steady and solid base before the top parts could be put in place.

He explained that some of the rectification can be done simultaneously while some have to wait for the others to be completed before they can be addressed.

Astre said, however, that the CAAP is on the right track in addressing all the elements to be fully compliant with the requirements of the ICAO safety standards.

The team expressed satisfaction with the rapid developments they have seen in CAAP, saying, “The CAAP has done in six months what was not done in five years.”

The FAA advised the CAAP to focus its attention on the five phases in certification: Application, submission of documents, review of submitted documents, demonstration of capability, and issuance of certificate.

“The CAAP is on the right track.  It has a good management team that should be allowed to continue and be given proper support by the government because they know how to get to regaining Category 1,” Astre said.

The FAA technical review was conducted to determine the status of rectification on the eight critical elements that caused the downgrading of the Philippines to Category 2 and the readiness of the civil aviation oversight office for the next IASA audit.

 The former Air Transportation Office (ATO) was downgraded to Category 2 status in November, 2007, which led to the creation of the CAAP in 2008, an autonomous, corporate body, supposedly free to disburse its funds for the improvement of its personnel and high-tech equipment.

* * *

Former President Joseph Estrada said Chief Justice Renato Corona is more fortunate than he while undergoing the impeachment trial.

“Corona is more fortunate because he is being given due process, while in my case, I was ousted by mob rule.”

He said that during his trial, the Supreme Court denied him justice by ruling he had resigned.

“I never resigned despite offers to allow me to leave and stay in any country of my choice, but the Supreme Court said it was a ‘constructive resignation,’ a term that it invented and used for the first time in my case.”