Question & AnswerQ&A (DOTC DEPARTMENT ORDER NO. 95-848)
The Subic Bay Freeport is a special economic and free port zone created under Republic Act No. 7227, aimed at promoting the economic and social development of Central Luzon and the country in general.
The declared policy is to promote the economic and social development of Central Luzon and the entire country by developing the Subic Bay Freeport into a self-sustaining industrial, commercial, financial, and investment center in the Asia-Pacific region.
Republic Act No. 776 declares the government policy to develop and utilize the air potential of the country through an air transportation system properly adapted to foreign and domestic commerce.
The government is vested with the authority to take charge of the technical and operational phases of civil aviation matters and to designate and establish civil airways and air navigation facilities.
It allows the Subic International Airport to be treated as serving Manila for interpreting all-cargo rights under specific Air Transport and Air Services Agreements between the Philippines and countries like the USA, Japan, and the UK, thereby facilitating specific cargo operations.
The Air Transport Agreement between the Philippines and the United States of America, the Air Services Agreement between the Philippines and Japan, and the Agreement between the Philippines and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Order applies specifically to all-cargo, Third and Fourth Freedom rights between the Philippines and the USA; carriage of cargo on flights between the USA and other countries with Manila as an intermediate point; all-cargo Fifth Freedom rights between Japan and the Philippines; and certain rights between the Philippines and Hong Kong, all limited to carriers designated by the respective governments.
Third Freedom rights allow a country’s carrier to transport goods or passengers from its own country to another country; Fourth Freedom rights allow the return leg; Fifth Freedom rights allow a carrier to transport traffic between two foreign countries on the carrier’s way to or from its home country.
No. The Order explicitly states that nothing in it is intended to deprive any Contracting Party to the cited agreements of any rights conferred by those agreements.
The Department Order took effect immediately upon its adoption on April 18, 1995.