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WHEN
President Arroyo ordered through Executive Order 341 the
Air Transportation Office (ATO) and the Department of
Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to immediately
transfer control of the Francisco Bangoy International
Airport in Davao City to the Manila International
Airport Authority (Miaa) from the ATO, the order’s
legality came into question.
The
Department of Justice (DOJ), in response to a query from
the DOTC on the issue, has now declared the Miaa may
validly exercise control over all international airports
in the country, although such mandate has been delegated
to the ATO by Republic Act 776.
Justice
Secretary Raul Gonzalez held that President Arroyo
through an executive order may validly transfer control
of the airport from the ATO, which would be defunct by
May—to be supplanted by the more powerful and autonomous
Civil Aviation Authority of the
Philippines.
Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza said the
Justice department opinion supports his department’s
Legal Service view, which they wanted to confirm by
submitting the question to the DOJ.
The ATO
position had been that its charter (Republic Act 776)
mandates the exercise of their control of international
airports, and, being a law, can only be repealed by
another law and not by an executive order.
Gonzalez
said although it has been the policy of the DOJ not to
rule on questions involving interpretation of the
official issuances of the President, he stressed it was
necessary to issue a ruling on the matter in view of its
importance. He based his opinion on Presidential Decree
1416 as amended by PD 1772, which “is clear and
categorical.”
The
cited PDs, according to Gonzalez, state that “the
President of the Philippines shall have continuing
authority to reorganize the national government.”
They
also provide that executive orders of the President
“shall have the effect of repealing, amending or
modifying accordingly all laws, decrees, charters,
executive orders, administrative orders, proclamations,
rules and regulations or parts thereof that are in
conflict with such EO” |
