Manila, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – Philippine Airlines, the nation’s flag carrier, has completed the process of retiring its fleet of five Boeing 747-400 planes, after serving for nearly 21 years.

The fleet has been used primarily on long-haul services to the United States along with regional destinations like Hong Kong, Tokyo and Bangkok. It will be replaced by a modern fleet of 777-300 aircraft.

One of the retired aircraft recently made its way from Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to Clark International Airport to join the airline’s retired Airbus A300 and A340 aircraft.  A retirement ceremony was held at Villamor Airbase.

To mark this historic occasion, President NoyNoy Aquino signed an executive order granting the retired fleet a lifetime pension of 44,000 pesos (roughly $1,000) each a month, tax-free.  A presidential spokesman told reporters that the pension funds will be drawn from the President’s Disbursement Acceleration Program or DAP, which was recently declared by the country’s Supreme Court as unconstitutional.

Who exactly will receive the pension funds is not clear, although The Adobo Chronicles learned from very reliable sources that a nongovernmental organization (NG0) has been set up to receive the retirement funds.  Incorporation papers filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission show that the chair of the NGO’s Board of Directors is businesswomen Janet Lim-Napoles who is currently in jail for criminal charges relating to the pork barrel scam.

It may be the end of era for Philippine Airlines, but certainly not for Napoles.