Section 2
SEC. 2. Experience and events in World War II, Berlin Airlift, Korea and other contemporary disturbances in Europe, Middle East, and Southeast Asia have shown that airline operations performed an important part in any emergency. While airplanes could be acquired on short term basis, pilots, engineers, and other technicians take much longer time to train. Despite our deficiency of opportunity and equipment, the Filipino pilots, navigators, engineers and other technicians have proven beyond doubt that they are the equal of any group in the world, if given the opportunity. Filipino airline captains, navigators, engineers, and other technicians, have already flown international flights across the Pacific to the United States, Japan and Hawaii and to various countries in Europe and Asia. Many of our pilots have been flying for fifteen to twenty years and over fifty Filipino pilots have logged from ten thousand to fifteen thousand flying hours. Presently we have over twenty inline captains who have over fifteen thousand flying hours and who have flown 4-engine aircrafts of the propeller and turbo-prop type, such as the DC-4, DC-6 and Viscount. The transition from turbo-prop (Viscounts) to DC-8 (Jet) is a matter of course. As in the case of the Viscount, all that was necessary was for the Filipino flight crews to be trained for two months in England and upon completion of their two months training, our Filipino flight crews flew the Viscounts from London to Manila and thereafter operated the Viscounts to Hongkong and Tokyo. The same procedure was also done in the cases of transition from the DC-3 (Twin-engine) to the DC-4 and DC-6 (4-engines). Thus there is no doubt that the Filipino airline captains and other technicians can operate safely and satisfactorily, in competition with any other airline crews in the world. In the past it has also been found embarrassing to see our flag airlines operate in foreign countries with foreign crews, not to mention the loss of employment opportunity of our flight crews and technicians and the build-up-of our air potential. Therefore, it is also declared to be the national policy, in the interest of Philippine security, air commerce and international prestige, to fully Filipinize the operations of the Philippine Air Lines, Inc., whenever practicable, and after the expiration of twenty-four months from the resumption of its international flights no alien shall be employed as one of its flight crew, maintenance or service personnel unless he be in its employ on the date of the approval of this Act or whose service shall be necessary to improve its air operations or technical know-how but in the latter case the period of employment shall not exceed six months, in each instance.