By Mortz C. Ortigoza
DAGUPAN City – A pilot said that senators of the Philippines are free to use the helicopters owned by one of the two major telecommunication corporations in the Philippines.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone under Manny Pangilinan and Globe Telecommunication run by Ayala Corporation are duopoly in the Philippines.
The Pilot, who asked anonymity, said that whenever senators wanted to stump in the provinces and cities outside Metro Manila the choppers and the pilots are there to ferry them for free.
This information ensued when a pilot brought to this city a senator from the Liberal Party who visited a government office.
Some media men had even pictures of the solon and the tail number of the chopper.
Another senator who ran for a public office in the last election had been using helicopters from the mammoth telecommunication corporation dubbed as telco by Filipinos.
A political kibitzer here said that these practices of the telecommunication corporations in lending air assets like airplane or jet to fly these members of the Upper House mocked by Speaker Panty Alvarez as Mabagal na Kapulungan (Slow House of Senate) as far as to Mindanao only showed how the lobby group had sway with the senators to protect the interest of the corporation versus giving franchise to another rival.
