Former Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) general manager Cesar Chiong said he will “fight all the way” to clear his name and push for much-needed reforms.
Chiong became the subject of an anonymous complaint after implementing a plan to reassign 285 personnel.
The Ombudsman initially suspended Chiong and his co-accused, officer-in-charge for finance and administration Irene Montalbo. Both were summarily dismissed from service by the Ombudsman.
Majority or 201 of the reassignments came from the airport police department, pursuant to the security requirements in the passenger airport terminals at NAIA, and were recommended by the Airport Police Department chief and assistant general manager for security and emergency services, Chiong said
Chiong said in a statement his predecessors had reassigned even larger numbers of personnel without facing any legal repercussions. Chiong, in his petition with the Court of Appeals, cited how former general manager Jose Angel Honrado reassigned 646 employees, while Eddie Monreal reassigned 397 personnel
in comparable periods.
Nearly 800 airport personnel rallied behind Chiong and Montalbo by signing a manifesto, saying that “only now have they experienced transparent and honest management in the agency.”
Chiong made significant changes to enhance the airport experience for the public. He removed X-ray machines obstructing terminal entrances and eliminated security guards flagging vehicles before accessing the ramp. He said these unnecessary measures incurred extensive costs amounting to hundreds of millions of pesos annually, while exacerbating the public’s frustrations.
Chiong and Montalbo also collected outstanding receivables totaling billions of pesos, paving the way for the financial stability of the MIAA. The authority is now debt-free and its cash balance at P5 billion in July 2022 surged to about P15 billion.
MIAA reported an income of P1.9 billion in 2022, a turnaround from the combined losses of P3.6 billion in 2020 and 2021.
Passenger numbers surged from 7.8 million in 2021 to around 31 million in 2022, with NAIA expecting to handle close to 47 million passengers by the end of this year.
Chiong, in his petition with the Court of Appeals, also questioned the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman. He said the anonymous complainants were
supposed to have exhausted administrative remedies first and should have filed with the Civil Service Commission instead of the Ombudsman.
He said as that general manager, he had the authority to reassign personnel which he did without any diminution in their status, pay and
rank.
Chiong said he gave up a lucrative career in the private sector to serve at MIAA upon the invitation of Department of Transportation
Secretary Jaime Bautista.
Chiong, 53, was the youngest to hold the post of MIAA manager. He has 33 years of aviation experience which saw him rise from the ranks at
Philippine Airlines where he was employed at the age of 19 as a management trainee.