WHEN his Royal Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Emir of Qatar, briefly visited the county two years ago, President Aquino was just too happy to learn that USD1-billion investment fund would be poured in for the Philippines.
The USD1-billion joint investment fund would pave the way for Qatari investors into the Philippines in various sectors, notably in power, infrastructure, food and agribusiness, mining, real estate, petrochemicals, and steel, as well as portfolio investments.
Not unknown to many, both the Philippines and Qatar have long been enjoying a beneficial partnership through cooperation in the political, economic, social, and cultural fields since diplomatic relations between them were established in 1986.
For one, Qatar helped facilitate the final peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front in 1996 and supported the Philippines’ bid for an observer status in the influential Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
In fact, Qatar has even set up a Philippine-Qatar Business Council which has its office in Mindanao in order to boost trade and investment relations between the two countries.
Unfortunately, it seems that there are some people in the Aquino administration who appear to undermine, if not at all sabotage, the blossoming of the bilateral relations between the Philippines and Qatar.
To date, the Philippine government remains lukewarm, to say the least, to Qatar Airways’ request to the Civil Aeronautics Board headed by its Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla for additional 13 more flight frequencies every week on the Doha-Manila-Doha route.
Many good people I know believe that the request for additional frequencies sounds fair and reasonable as they would be for the 10 p.m. to 4 p.m. time schedules where air traffic is said to be at a minimum at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
At present, Qatar Airways has eight flights weekly, but its request for additional more is relatively low if we are to compare it to other carriers, such as the United Arab Emirates which has 42 weekly flight frequencies.
In addition, Qatari carrier even considers adding flights to airports outside of Metro Manila, such as Clark, Davao, Laguindingan or Cebu, extending the same reciprocal benefits to Philippine carriers as well.
These additional flights are not only meant to offer more connections for the 200,006 OFWs who, in 2009, remitted USD180 million, which is an increase of over 700 percent from USD25 million in 2003. It also aims to boost tourism between the two countries.
This will also create jobs for many of us, considering that two billion people, mostly from Asia, are said to be driving the global demand for air travel, thereby creating some 3.86 million jobs for pilots, attendants and aircraft maintenance technicians around the world.
Prudence now dictates that allowing more flight frequencies for Qatar Airways would be more beneficial not only for Qatar but also, most importantly, for the Philippines.
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