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n o v e m b e r - d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 1 l z e s t a i r i n f l i g h t m a g a z i n e 57

Law practice in theairline and aviation

industry is a challenging endeavor and

requires a peculiar interest on the field. One

must be adept not only to the precepts of

law, corresponding regulations, specific

commercial laws, related special laws and

legal nomenclatures but to the extent of

having an overview of the airlines operational

requirements, or at least rudimentary

appreciation of the aviation glossary ranging

from engine and aircraft specifications, ferry

flight schedules, what block hour is, what

maintenance reserves are and how they are

computed to understanding the freedoms of the

air and related matters that a practitioner may

not have encountered in law school. Aviation

is a highly-regulated industry. There is the

need to be aware of the rules and regulations

of the industry such as the Civil Aviation

Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) as well

as the requirements of the Civil Aeronautics

Board (CAB). To say that this industry is a highly

regulated is an understatement, it is also a

very technical one. Further, often as not, the

suppliers and service providers are international

companies, so contracts are governed by

different jurisdictions. While there are always

common concepts in contract law, an aviation

lawyer must also deal with certain differences,

and trying to familiarize herself with these

variety within a limited time pose a considerable

challenge. This is the world of Atty. MailaRoberta Padpad-Banaag or Atty. Mai in

brevity, Zest Airs Director for Legal Affairs.

Maila passed the bar in 1999 subsequent

to her law degree at the University of the

Philippines having Political Science as pre-law

in the same school. Thereafter, she started

her legal profession with the government and

did several stint with the Court of Appeals, the

Supreme Court and the Office of the Solicitor

General. It did not come across Mailas mind

that shell land in the airline industry until she

was invited to join Cebu Pacific Air as Corporate

Planning and External Affairs Assistant to the

Legal Counsel in 2003. Being in a new and

more challenging environment, thus, marked

Mailas metamorphosis as corporate lawyer

in the airline industry. Maila went back with

the Government in 2005 this time with the

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

but opportunities paved the way when start up

airline Tair Airways asked her to join them in

2007. Maila pursued her airline career when

another airline call came in, this time with

Zest Airways where she is piloting the Legal

Department thereon up to present.

Lawyering in this industry is certainly

challenging. For Maila, it is precisely these

challenges that make her work fun at Zest

Air. She finds the job really fascinating and

believes that these challenges carried their own

rewards. She learned a lot of things and grew

a lot as a lawyer because of the nature of the

job not to mention the opportunities of meeting

interesting people both in and out of Zest

Air. To many, airlines and the aviation field

is generally a male-dominated industry. With

a grin on Mailas face, she confessed that this

has never been a problem for her. Admittedly,

aviation for Maila does tend to have a macho

culture, but, fortunately, considering that she

is working with highly professional colleaguesin Zest Air, she has yet to meet somebody who

may assume that she does not know what she

is doing simply because she is a woman.

Maila looks at being workaholic as both

her strength and weakness. I work hard,

Maila declared. I like to get the job done,

and I like to get it done right! She admits

though that this same strength mirror-images

her weakness because she then realize that she

hardly ever have time for other important things

such as reading more books and revisiting old

time favorites, seeing family and friends more

often, sleep more, exercise more. When ask

of her visions while working with Zest Air,

Maila highly hopes that Zest Air will be bigger

and better in the years to come with more

aircraft flying to more destinations. Id like to

think that people will be traveling more, both

domestic and regionally, and Zest Air will be

their airline of choice in these travels, Mailanarrated. When this vision of growth happens,

I can humbly say that my modest contributions

helped in assuring that Zest Airs interest is at all

times protected and never compromised in the

contracts that I drafted and finalized, that every

purchase agreement entered into will inure to

the companys advantage, and that Zest Air will

never be juxtaposed to any onerous contracts or

agreements, Maila exclaimed.

P L A N E T A L K

ThePRACTICE Atty. Maila RobertaPadpad-BanaagBy DEO G. JOVELLANO