As the workers voted, president Joseph Estrada made a last-minute appeal to PAL workers to put the national interest first. ``My only message is for the workers to put the interest of the Filipino people above all because millions will be affected,'' Estrada said in radio interviews.

``Let us temporarily give up our right to strike for the sake of the nation... I appeal to you as your president.'' After rejecting it last week, airline workers were again voting on management's offer of a 20 per cent equity in PAL in exchange for a 10-year freeze on labour bargainings.

The government had also offered to give the unions one of its seats on the 57-year-old airline's board to make the deal more palatable.

The employees were also voting on proposals by the union's officers aimed at softening the blow of themanagement offer, said national secretary Bong Penas of the PAL Employees' Association (PALEA).

These were the revival of a labour-management coordinating council, upholding of an earlier deal on early retirement benefits, and a prioritising of retrenched workers who have not received separation benefits in re-hiring workers.

Over 6,000 PALEA members have until noon time Friday to vote before the labour department starts counting, Penas said. PAL shut down last week after the union rejected management's offer in a referendum boycotted by most PALEA workers.

On Monday, a majority of the union's leadership had a change of heart and signed a deal with management accepting the offer, but said it should be approved by its members.

If the workers ratify the deal, PAL would start flying domestic routes on October 7 and international routes before Christmas, airline officials earlier said.

PAL aircraft were undergoing maintenance checks to ensure their readiness to fly next week if the vote waspositive.

President Estrada said PAL chairman Lucio Tan was abroad talking to PAL's creditors so its planes would not be confiscated. PAL owes about $2.0 billion to foreign and local creditors.

Meanwhile, Tan has asked PAL's senior officers to tender their resignations to give prospective investors a free hand in reviving the airline, a company statement said.

Airline officials earlier said at least three foreign carriers, Cathay Pacific Airways, Northwest Airlines Corp and Lufthansa AG, were interested in buying PAL.

PAL's shutdown last week forced the Philippine government to temporarily hire Cathay to fly domestic routes on a charter basis.