Air Juan, an aircraft charter company owned by mining magnate Francis Enrico Gutierrez, became embroiled in controversy when rivals of Liberal Party presidential candidate Mar Roxas accused the latter improperly using the private jets of Gutierrez in his campaign sorties throughout the country.
Roxas admitted to being friends with Gutierrez but stressed that he was paying for the use of the planes and that there was nothing improper or irregular about the arrangement.
Charter airline
According to its website, Air Juan Aviation is a charter airline that began operations in 2012 and holds both an AOC issued by the CAAP and a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the Civil Aviation Board.
The company rents out Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft and seaplanes and Bell helicopters with bases in Cebu, Puerto Princesa, Rio Tuba and Manila.
CAAP spokesperson Eric Apolonio said the agency’s Flight Standards and Inspectorate Service records show Air Juan to have been issued an AOC which authorizes it to rent out its planes and helicopters.
Business partners
He said the sole concern of the aviation authority is the airworthiness of the company’s aircraft and the safety of its flights.
Gutierrez is also the owner of the San Roque Metals Inc. (SRMI) which mines nickel in Tubay, Agusan del Norte. He is a business partner of Edgar Erice, the Liberal Party’s political affairs chief, in the mining company.
Roxas’ rival candidate Rodrigo Duterte earlier claimed that SRMI was an “abusive” mining company whose operations the government has been unable to stop ostensibly because Roxas was using Gutierrez’s planes. SRMI was reportedly fined some P7 million in 2007 for over-extraction of nickel.
Roxas said he knew Gutierrez to be a responsible mining operator.