MANILA - THE Philippines' chief aviation regulator has abruptly quit, the government said on Tuesday, after he blamed President Benigno Aquino for keeping the country on an international flight safety blacklist.
Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines director-general Alfonso Cusi tendered his resignation effective Dec 31.
'This will give your excellency a free hand to choose a new director-general who will continue to carry out the needed reforms... and to whom the administration can give its full trust and confidence,' he said in his letter.
Mr Cusi last month blamed Mr Aquino's appointment of allies to key posts in his agency for the International Civil Aviation Organisation's (ICAO's) reluctance to remove the Philippines from countries deemed to have unsafe aviation.
The ICAO move is deemed necessary to get the US Federal Aviation Administration to remove the Philippines from its 'Category 2' status that had prevented the country's carriers from expanding US services.
In March this year the European Union also banned Philippine carriers on safety grounds. -- AFP
