A Repost From AFP

Philippine Airlines cancels flights as pilots quit

AFP - Sunday, August 1

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Philippine airlines planes are parked on the tarmac of Manila international airport in May. The flag-carrier said it had to cancel several domestic and international flights after some of its pilots quit without giving enough notice.

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MANILA (AFP) - – Flag-carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) said Saturday it had to cancel several domestic and international flights after some of its pilots quit without giving enough notice.

Three flights to Hong Kong and at least eight domestic flights were cancelled after pilots left to join airlines abroad, PAL said in a statement.

"The indiscriminate resignation of the A320 pilots... is in violation of their contract with PAL as well as with pertinent government regulations that require resigning pilots to give PAL six months' notice," the statement said.

The airline said it would be filing "appropriate charges" against the pilots who still owe PAL for the cost of their training.

The statement did not say how many pilots had resigned or where they were going to work. Airline spokesmen could not be contacted for comment.

However sources in the PAL employees' union said the resignations were in reaction to a plan by the airline to lay off thousands of employees and outsource their positions.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino said the government was meeting with PAL management to arrange a new schedule to make up for the lost pilots.

He also said the transport and labour departments would be looking into the matter.

The local aviation sector has been embroiled in several controversies in recent months such as a shortage of air navigation equipment at Manila airport and growing labour unrest at PAL, the largest domestic carrier.

Reposted From AFP

A Repost From AFP

Sushi-hungry Japan sells monster tuna

AFP - Friday, July 16

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A monster tuna caught off Japan has turned heads at a Tokyo fish market, where the 445 kilogram (981 pound) bluefin -- the biggest caught here since 1986 -- sold for 3.2 million yen (36,700 dollars). Decades of overfishing have seen global tuna stocks crash, pushing some Western nations to call for a trade ban on endangered Atlantic bluefin tuna.

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TOKYO (AFP) - – A monster tuna caught off Japan turned heads at a Tokyo fish market Friday, where the 445 kilogram (981 pound) bluefin -- the biggest caught here since 1986 -- sold for 3.2 million yen (36,700 dollars).

"Many of the people who work at the market have never seen a tuna that big," said an official of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which runs the Tsukiji fish market, the world's biggest seafood market.

The fish, which was auctioned at 7,200 yen per kilogram, had already been gutted and cleaned of its gills, meaning it must have weighed more when it was caught off Nagasaki prefecture this week, the official said.

"It is extremely rare to see a tuna heavier than 400 kilograms," he said.

The biggest Japanese tuna sold at Tsukiji was a 496-kilogram beast caught in April 1986 -- but the biggest tuna from the world's oceans to be sold here was a Canadian fish caught in 1995 weighing 497 kilograms.

Decades of overfishing have seen global tuna stocks crash, pushing some Western nations to call for a trade ban on endangered Atlantic bluefin tuna.

Japan consumes three-quarters of the global bluefin catch, a highly prized sushi ingredient, known in Japan as "kuro maguro" (black tuna) and dubbed by sushi connoisseurs as the "black diamond" because of its scarcity.

A piece of "otoro" or fatty underbelly can cost 2,000 yen (22 dollars) at high-end Tokyo restaurants.

Reposted From AFP

A Repost From AFP

Ex-Arroyo aide may turn state witness: Philippines' Aquino

AFP - Thursday, July 8

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Philippine President Benigno Aquino gestures during his first media briefing at the Malacanang Palace in Manila. A former minister in the government of ex-Philippine leader Gloria Arroyo could be used as a state witness in a corruption case against her, Aquino said Wednesday.

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MANILA (AFP) - – A former minister in the government of ex-Philippine leader Gloria Arroyo could be used as a state witness in a corruption case against her, President Benigno Aquino said Wednesday.

Aquino said he recently met former agriculture minister Cito Lorenzo and told him the government wanted him to testify against Arroyo in one of the many scandals that rocked her government.

"I did not have the occasion to talk to him extensively when I saw him, but I did say that 'I have a lot of questions for you' and I left it at that," Aquino told reporters.

Asked whether a recently created "truth commission" tasked to go after Arroyo over alleged corruption would get Lorenzo as a witness, Aquino said: "That is a possibility".

"It is an accepted doctrine that the person with the least guilt who can help you in prosecution is afforded certain privileges, among them immunity from suit," he said.

Aquino said the brief exchange occurred during a private party thrown by one of his aides.

Lorenzo was the agriculture minister when about 728 million pesos (15.68 million dollars) intended as fertilizer funds for small farmers was allegedly diverted to Arroyo's election campaign in 2004.

Arroyo eventually won the election by a slim margin amid widespread allegations of cheating, including vote buying and influence peddling.

Lorenzo fled the country two years later when the Senate launched an investigation into the scandal. It is unclear when Lorenzo returned to the Philippines.

Aquino said that Lorenzo told him while in exile through emissaries that he feared for his life.

"If he has damaging information on certain parties, then the revelation will serve some sort of safeguard for his own safety," Aquino said.

"Keeping it in limbo, not putting it on the public record does not help his cause.'

Aquino won the presidency by a landslide in May, largely on a promise to rid government of corruption weighing down the impoverished country.

Among his first orders when he assumed office last week was to appoint a retired Supreme Court justice to head the "truth commission" that would go after Arroyo, who was required by constitutional term limits to step down.

Reposted From AFP