CLARK FREEPORT – Amid controversies linking him to reported looting of aviation cables at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here, Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) president and chief executive Victor Jose Luciano has taken a leave of absence in his bid to allow an impartial probe of the allegations.
A team of experts from the Office of Transportation and Safety (OTS) of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) is set to look into the status of cables at DMIA’s two runways, taxiway and other parts of the aviation complex.
CIAC executive vice president Bienvenido Manga assumed his post as officer-in-charge effective yesterday.
Luciano’s leave, however, lasts only up to Nov. 6.
This, after CIAC vice president for operations Reynaldo Catacutan held him responsible for allowing ACP Manpower, a private firm known to be engaged on dealing with scraps, access to “high security” areas of the aviation complex purportedly for “ground maintenance” operations.
Reports submitted to Catacutan by the engineering and security departments identified four employees of ACP Manpower who were caught carting off underground cables allegedly from the runway and taxiway.
Some of the cables were recovered, but others remained missing. The missing cables were estimated to be worth P2.6 million.
Catacutan, who assumed post only three months ago, said the cables were supposed to act as back up for primary cables transmitting power to vital lights at the runway and taxiway.
But Luciano debunked this, and insisted that the missing cables which connect only the electric posts at the aviation complex’s periphery. “They are old cables installed way back in 1995 and must have been stolen over these years, not just at one time,” he said.
Catacutan said Luciano should be charged both administratively and criminally in the case, as he cited the latter’s two handwritten letters allowing the private group access to “high security” areas within the complex.
While Catacutan cited reports from the engineering and security departments to confirm the “qualified theft” of the cables, the office of Luciano released a statement saying that the two departments “debunked claims that there were pilferages inside the Clark airport.”
“The alleged missing power cables are just remnants of the old power lines that were pilfered in the past,” the statement said.
“The safety and security of the Clark airport were not compromised,” CIAC Security Department Manager Jose Marlowe Pedregosa was quoted in the statement.
The statement also cited Pedregosa as saying that “no aviation security protocol was breached because the four people who went in actually stayed for 10 hours and properly escorted by our aviation security. All the time, they were supervised by the CIAC aviation security team.”
This, however, seemed to conflict with Pedragosa’s report dated seeking “legal action” against the four workers of ACP Manpower, and urging that the firm be made to restore the missing cables.
The CIAC statement said that aviation experts from the DOTC and CAAP “will also determine if these power cables are missing and will come up with an official report.”
This, even as Luciano also requested a parallel internal investigation by committee from the CIAC board.
Luciano announced his leave of absence in Baguio City where he was attending a three-day conference workshop of all CEO’s of firms under the Bases Conversion and Development Authority.
“We welcome any investigation as to the alleged missing power cables. What is important is that safety and security of the Clark airport was not compromised. The airport operates smoothly,” said Luciano.
