CLARK FREEPORT – Transportation Sec. Arthur Tugade assured yesterday some 350 employees of the state-run Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) “not to worry” over their employment amid the pending privatization of the airport here.
“Tell the employees not to worry, this government is fair,” Tugade said in a press conference at the central office of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) here.
But Tugade did not assure them of security of tenure, saying that “if there is retrenchment, you will be paid. And the pay should be 100 percent, not just 50 percent (of monthly salary per year of service as final benefit),” he said.
He said funds for those who could be retrenched would be readily available, noting that there are three agencies which could provide funds for this.
The agencies include the DOTr, the CIAC, and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).
“We will try to work out and formulate policy, procedures for win-win situation. We will be fair,” he said, assuring a situation that would make all parties “happy.”
CIAC is under the supervision of the DOTr. Employees of the CIAC have been demanding assurances of security of tenure in their employment.
“We are still uncertain about what lies ahead for us in the privatization of the operation and management being pushed by CIAC’s parent company, the BCDA),” said a statement issued by the Samahan ng mga Manggagawa sa Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (SMDMIA).
The BCDA, which owns the land occupied by the civil aviation here, said the operation and management of the Clark airport is expected to be awarded to a private company this August and the turn over by the end of the year.
