MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) - Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is seeking a comment from embattled Philippine AirLines (PAL) on a disclosure she made before members of the media on Thursday morning.

De Lima, who is among Cabinet secretaries instructed by President Aquino to intervene in the row between the flag carrier and 25 of its pilots, disclosed that her first cousin, First Captain Emmanuel de Lima, is among those who resigned from PAL and part of an ongoing dispute with the airline.

The justice chief said she only found out about this on Wednesday morning over DZMM TeleRadyo while preparing for work. She immediately asked her brother to validate and got the confirmation.

De Lima said she disclosed the matter to President Aquino and to Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa.

She then asked Transportation and Communications Secretary Jose "Ping" de Jesus to relay the matter to PAL management for their response.

"If they are not comfortable with that, then I will have to excuse myself from the dialogues. I would rather that PAL react on this disclosure," she said.

Because of this, de Lima refused to give details about ongoing efforts to settle the PAL row except to say that government is evaluating the results of dialogues separately done with management and representatives of the Association of Airline Pilots of the Philippines, and that talks are currently on-hold.

President Aquino had instructed de Lima, de Jesus, Ochoa, and Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz to sit down with PAL and disgruntled pilots to fast-track the resolution of the dispute and normalize the flag carrier's operations.