JAN.

21, 2013

NR # 2991

House to probe NAIATSC officials

The House of Representatives is set to conduct an investigation on the alleged abuses committed by the Board of Directors and General Manager of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Transport Service Cooperative (NAIATSC) and for violating the by-laws of the cooperative and Republic Act 9520 or the Cooperative Code of the Philippines. Theres a long list of violations made by the NAIATSCO Board of Directors. What we need to do now is to act on the complaints of its members to correct the situation and at the same time, craft a legislation that will help avoid repetition of the same violations, said Rep. Cresente Paez (Party-List, COOP-NATCCO), author of House Resolution 2902. Paez said the NAIATSC violated 13 of the by-laws of RA 9520. One of the violations is the alleged manipulation of the cooperatives fund by the incumbent Board of Directors, the General manager and the Accounting staff for their personal benefit, Paez said. Paez urged the probe body to investigate NAIATSC General Manager, Arnold Cis, a retired Philippine Air Force official, who has been occupying his position since 2007, the year that they last elected a set of officers. The members of the cooperative including operators, drivers and allied workers, who can no longer bear and tolerate the abuses, are now seeking reforms in the cooperative through the conduct of election, according to Paez. Since 2007, the NAIATSCO has been conducting an annual general assembly but it is allegedly more of an outing as there is no presentation of financial standing of the cooperative and other matters relevant to the operations of the cooperative, Paez said. Paez said the NAIATSC is a duly registered cooperative with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) under Registration No. 1436 dated July 22, 1993 and with business office located at A. Santos Ave., San Dionisio, in Paraaque City. Paez said the law states that there shall be seven members of Board of Directors, five of which shall come from the operators and two would come from the drivers, but the present members of the board are all operators; the board of directors and general manager had invested in two businesses, one is travel and tours agency with the business name, Exquisite, and the other a carwash business. According to the NAIATSC members, Cis business partner at the Exquisite is his close friend. The carwash business, on the other hand, is allegedly losing and its expenses are being shouldered by the cooperative. (30) sb