Senator Grace Poe on Monday called for the privatization of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), saying it is high time for the government to tap the private sector to modernize the Philippines’ primary gateway following the glitch that shut down the country’s airspace on January 1.
In the House of Representatives, the Committee on Transportation begins its own probe into the New Year’s Day incident today, Tuesday.
The committee, to be presided over by its chairman Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop, summoned officials of the Department of Transportation (DoTr), the Civil Aeronautics Administration of the Philippines (CAAP), and the Commission on Audit.
Senator Juan Edgardo Angara also called for institutional reforms in the CAAP ahead of Thursday’s Senate hearing on the New Year’s Day fiasco that closed Philippine airspace, grounded more than 300 flights, and inconvenienced 65,000 passengers.
As the Senate committee on public services headed by Poe prepares to investigate the Jan. 1 incident, Angara said the focus should be on two fronts—pinpointing accountability and ensuring that the relevant systems and institutions are ready to respond to such occurrences, however rarely they take place.
Among their colleagues, Sen. Nancy Binay welcomes the privatization of commercial operations within the NAIA complex, but Sen. Christopher Go stressed any privatization is “too early.”
Since 2018, Poe said she has been pressing for the privatization of the operations and maintenance of the country’s main gateway to address the efficiency and safety needs of an increasing number of passengers every year.
“We have always pushed for privatization not just of the air traffic control system but of the airport itself,” Poe said.
She recalled that talks started in 2017 about the NAIA modernization project to be handled by a mega consortium involving reputable companies.
“Can you imagine if we awarded it to them in 2018 or 2019? During the pandemic, it would have been a downturn for them, but they could have rehabilitated the airport easily because there wasn’t so much activity during that time,” she said.
The NAIA’s rehabilitation would have involved upgrading the airport facilities and expanding the terminals.
Angara took note of the inclusion of Senate Bill 1003, which he filed in August last year.
“We first filed the bill way back in 2018 upon the recommendation of the Safe Travel Alliance, with inputs from the CAAP. We refiled the bill in the current 19th Congress in recognition of the need to strengthen the CAAP as part of the efforts to ensure the safety, reliability, and efficiency of air transport in our country,” Angara said.
Republic Act 9497 or the law that created the CAAP was enacted in 2008, Angara said, and much-needed reforms should be introduced to address deficiencies in the supervision and management of the country’s aviation industry.
Under SB 1003, two new members will be added to the CAAP board — the secretary of Tourism and the secretary of National Defense.
Two representatives from the private sector, who will be appointed by the President, will also sit on the CAAP board.
CAAP’s fiscal autonomy will be enhanced with the grant of an exemption from the coverage of Republic Act 7656 or the Dividend Law so that it could maximize the use of its revenues.
The bill also calls for the exemption of CAAP from the coverage of the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) Law and the Salary Standardization Law in consideration of the highly technical nature of the functions of the agency.
“The technical glitch that took place last Jan. 1 was a wake-up call for all of us about the need to address the gaps in our air transport systems and the CAAP is front and center in all of this, which is why we have to institute the necessary reforms to provide the agency the tools necessary to effectively fulfill its mandate,” Angara said.
Poe said the passenger terminal at Mactan-Cebu International Airport which was completed in 2018 is a model of how privatization works.
“We’ve seen this example in Cebu and I think that GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. has done a fairly good job in designing the airport and running its operation,” she said.
“I believe it’s time for this [privatization]. We still need the Bulacan airport because no matter what improvements you do with the terminals in NAIA or the Manila International Airport, you will never have more than two runways at this point, but you can always improve efficiency,” she added.
On Jan. 12, Poe’s committee will lead the inquiry into the airport power outage that jolted NAIA’s air traffic control, disrupting some 300 flights and stranding thousands of passengers.
Poe said officials of the DOTr, Manila International Airport Authority, and other concerned executives were invited to the hearing to shed light on the fiasco. One of those invited is former Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade.
“This did not happen overnight. Obviously, it stems from many years of transactions and maintenance upgrades. In fact, it’s not just singling out secretary Tugade, it’s also a chance for him to be able to correct the impression that it was during his time that all these things may have been neglected,” she said.
Poe said the inquiry will focus on how to avert a similar incident that could compromise the safety of passengers.
“We want to know what the agencies plan to do so that this does not happen again. We should find out who is responsible. If there’s somebody whom we can call out, who may have been negligent, of course, they have to be reprimanded if not fired,” Poe said.
The House investigation is in response to several resolutions filed by lawmakers led by San Jose del Monte Rep. Florida Robes intended to address the issues that led to the temporary shutdown of the Philippine airspace, to avoid a repeat of the incident that affected over 65,000 domestic and international passengers, and effectively brought shame to the country.
“We will assess what really happened and get to the bottom of it,” Acop said.
House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan maintained his suggestion to fellow legislators to seek the help of the National Bureau of Investigation, particularly its agents from its cybercrime division when conducting such inquiries into critical system disasters.
“If we want to be thorough in our investigation of unexpected critical system breakdowns, we have to call in a panel of specialists, including experts from the NBI, if only to rule out potential cyber-attacks, sabotage, or other kinds of malicious activity,” he said.
“In the future, for example, if the national power grid system unexpectedly crashes and triggers a massive blackout, we should also bring in NBI experts, among other resource persons, to help in the investigation,” the congressman from party-list 4Ps said.
The CAAP earlier attributed initially the failure of NAIA’s Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance Systems for Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) to a busted uninterruptible power supply (UPS), which Tugade denied.
Northern Samar Rep. Paul Daza cited the need for Congress to enact a law amending the dual mandate of the CAAP.
“Reforming the CAAP will require the filing of certain bills to ultimately and officially decouple the regulatory and developmental functions of the agency,” Daza, the senior deputy minority leader, said in a statement.
“We could no longer afford another similar incident; thousands of lives had been put at risk and will be put at risk if this should ever happen again,” the congressman said, in reference to the 65,000 stranded passengers to and from Manila from Jan. 1 to 2.
On Monday, the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) inspected the facilities of the CAAP to ensure that the Philippine Air Traffic Management System’s (ATMS) management is operating functionally, safely, and reliably.
The onsite inspection at the facility in Pasay City was made more than a week after the New Year’s Day shutdown of the country’s airspace that affected more than 360 flights and 65,000 passengers in Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the country’s premier gateway.
GCG officials went to the ATMS’s control and equipment rooms, where the problem transpired, and at very small aperture terminal (VSAT), where a set of satellite dishes used to link communication and surveillance facilities nationwide are located.
“We are here to exercise the monitoring power of GCG being the oversight body of CAAP. We want to know what really transpired here because this affects many individuals. By the number, around 75,000 people were affected,” Commissioner Gideon DV Mortel said.