MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippines may not charge American military planes for the use of any airport facility in the country, the operations chief of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said on Thursday.

Daniel Dimagiba, CAAP deputy director for operations, said on Thursday that United States military planes can freely use the Zamboanga airport and any other airstrip in the country, a privilege accorded to any military organization seeking to land or take off from the country’s facilities.
“If it's for military operations, they're free to use airport facilities, not only in Zamboanga. We can't charge them for anything. We can't apply civilian aviation regulations to military aircraft,” said Dimagiba on Thursday.

The official said airport use privilege has been accorded to any military organization given clearance to fly in or out of any Philippine air strip.

“Our Philippine Air Force uses our airports for free. They can use any airport even if they advise us just 10 minutes ahead of time, and any military mission is treated as confidential,” said Dimagiba.

The US military's use of the Zamboanga airport was questioned in Congress on Wednesday, when the Department of Transportation and Communication presented to the legislature its proposed budget for 2009.

American military transport planes have been using the Zamboanga airstrip to serve US troops stationed there under the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines.

US cargo planes and transport helicopters operating from Mindanao park at an extended ramp area of the Edwin Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga City.