MANILA International Airport Authority general manager Jose Angel Honrado said on Tuesday he will not resign over the five-hour brownout at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 which resulted in the cancellations of more than 80 flights over the weekend.
"Service is our priority,” Honrado said. “If every time there will be a problem every month you the official to resign, then you are looking for a problem every month," Honrado said during a press conference.
Honrado called the news briefing after Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. demanded that he and Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya resign for the many problems that have emerged under their management of their assigned agencies.
Marcos said Abaya’s department has been the biggest source of problems in government. He pointed out that the five-hour power outage was just one of the many incidents showing the incompetence of people in the DOTC.
“With Secretary Abaya, I’m sorry but DOTC has been the source of so many problems and when he came in we had hoped we would be the one to rationalize his department but he has been a disappointment because nothing good has happened,” Marcos said.
As for Honrado, Marcos said he has been calling for his resignation for years.
“I’ve been calling for his resignation for years. He does not know his job. I asked him during the [evidence planting] hearings what his job was as a general manager. I remember him saying he coordinates but he does not control the people in the airport. If there is no control, how does he manage?” Marcos said.
He said he later learned that Honrado had more than P1 billion in intelligence fund but it would seem the money is not being put to good use.
“He has more than P1 billion in intelligence funds but it seems they are doing nothing. They can't do anything even if only for a brownout. There is no generator even if more than 80 flights have already been cancelled. What kind of management is that?” he said.
Honrado, for his part, said "I respect the opinion of those who wish for me to resign… If you feel that five-hour brownout is too long, we're just so sorry. We didn't want that to happen. We didn't realize there would be a problem."
Manila Electric Company spokesman Jose Zaldarriaga said Meralco is now formulating new measure to prevent similar situations in the future.
"We have a coordination meeting this morning with (NAIA Terminal 3 manager) Engineer (Octavio) Lina and other officials. Based on the meeting, the recommendation we saw was for the MIAA to provide us with some sort of a special protocol so we will have a faster access to key facilities in case of emergency situations," said Zaldarriaga.
"Also during that meeting, with us is our subsidiary our representative to provide basically the audit and technical recommendations on the facilities. Third is we intend to convert our switch gears, this is our equipment, numbers 1, 2, 3 to a modern-technology, smart switcher with remote monitoring and control capability for faster response time both in terms of restoration protocol and when needed in times of emergenc,” he said.
“But of course we told officials of Naia 3 that would require approval from the ERC for us to be able to do that," he added.
MIAA officials said the generator set that failed is the one which is a vital one covering the airport's check-in lobby, entrance, initial screening and the departure area.