CAAP brain drain

GOVERNMENT officials are reassuring the public that they are fixing the technical problem that shut down Philippine airspace on the first day of the year. New cooling fans, circuit breakers and uninterrupted power supply systems are reportedly being procured to prevent a repeat of the national embarrassment that occurred at the at Ninoy Aquino International Airport on January 1.

Apart from technical issues, however, manpower problems are emerging again at the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, which is in charge of air traf-fic management. On Monday, January 9, CAAP director general Manuel Antonio Tamayo sought a pay increase for air traffic controllers to prevent them from seeking greener pastures overseas mostly in the Middle East. Tamayo noted that the pay in certain countries can be six times higher than what the Philippines offers to its air traffic controllers.