Immediately upon getting wind of decision to suspend flights to Laoag, Rep. Imee R. Marcos (2nd district, Ilocos Norte) talked to concerned officials of Philippine Airlines to appeal for reconsideration and to apologize for whatever incident that might have offended PAL employees at the LIA. “It’s a huge inconvenience and a great embarrassment to the balikbayans who have made time to come all the way from California, Alaska, Hawaii and other places only to discover that they have no way back to Manila. It’s very embarrassing,” Marcos said as she said she is still hopeful PAL would reconsider its decision to suspend their flights to Laoag. As a result of the fiasco, which was believed to be the reason for the sudden suspension and which allegedly involved former Laoag City Mayor Roger C. Fariñas who reportedly got into a heated argument with a PAL employee on February 3, Marcos scored several local officials who are reportedly not cooperating in attracting investors to come to the province with their behavior. She then encouraged all sectors to work hand-in-hand for the development of tourism in the province. “We should learn from this and we must apologize to those who have attempted to work it out in the province pagkatapos ay hindi nga matutupad ang kanilang mga balak (but ended up having their aspirations quashed),” the lady solon added. Marcos then assured that the government would help in settling the issue and communicate with airline officials in resolving whatever complaints they have against anyone in the province. In an interview with Fariñas, the former mayor denied there was a commotion at LIA on February 3 but admitted that he got into an argument with a PAL employee with regards to a ticket that was named after a daughter and which was going to be used by his wife. Leilanie G. Adriano
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