NAIA mess: No scapegoats, no free passes from liability

MANILA, Philippines —  There should be no scapegoats in the New Year’s Day airport mess and those found responsible should be held accountable, according to Sen. Risa Hontiveros.

The opposition senator made the pronouncement during Friday’s public hearing of the committee on public services on the Jan. 1 crash of the air communications system of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport that disrupted over 300 flights and stranded more than 65,000 passengers.

Hontiveros said she was not comfortable describing the incident as a simple glitch or had been caused by a bug, as thousands of lives had been affected.

The senator said the fiasco also could not be called an “act of God” if the problem was a defective circuit breaker or uninterruptible power supply.

“So one of the things we hope our committee can determine is whether this incident is man-made. There should be no scapegoats or free passes from liability. Is it human fault? Is there negligence? Lack of maintenance? Have outdated parts had to be replaced?” Hontiveros said.

“And in the end, if it is very basic and very simple decisions or the negligence of a few that has stopped all the airports in the whole country, they should be held accountable. If someone becomes sloppy, he or she must be held accountable,” Hontiveros added.

Committee chair Sen. Grace Poe noted that airport authorities failed to reveal what really triggered the breakdown.

Poe, during the hearing, instructed officials of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to submit documents containing information that would help prevent a similar incident in the future.

While the hearing failed to clearly establish the reasons for the airport mess, Poe said it helped establish the lapses committed by concerned officials.

She also noted measures raised during the hearing to address the problem, including privatization of NAIA as suggested by Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista.

The DOTr chief said privatizing the international airport is a priority of President Marcos.

“Secretary Bautista recommended some solutions, including the privatization of the airport, and air traffic control…for the air traffic controls, here are some benefits. No. 1, there will be stable and long-term capital investments without the bureaucratic red tape,” Poe said.

She said privatizing the airport can save the government millions of investments in infrastructure, reduce national debt, trim redundant staff while increasing employees’ salaries “since they will not be part of the government salary standardization.”

“I would like to reiterate the submission of the following documents to the committee, including a technical report and the circuit breaker, minute to minute, second by second timeline of the incident and electrical panel plans,” she maintained.

Sen. Francis Tolentino, meanwhile, urged the CAAP leadership to take advantage of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to help the country modernize its air traffic control system without paying a single centavo.

Tolentino advised CAAP officials to submit an initial communication with the ICAO secretariat informing it of an ongoing probe and the submission of a final report by the end of the month.

Under ICAO, particularly under Article 70, signatory countries including the Philippines may seek assistance from the ICAO council for full financing of the upgrade of existing air navigation facilities, Tolentino said.

“It means they (ICAO) will fund totally 100 percent all our requirements to make it up to date with international standards,” Tolentino told CAAP officials at a recent Senate hearing on the communications breakdown at the NAIA.

He said the Philippines may qualify for assistance if transportation officials are able to prove that existing facilities “are not reasonably adequate for the safe, regular, efficient and economical operation of international air services, present or contemplated.”

Article 71 of the ICAO Convention states that: “If a contracting State so requests, the Council may agree to provide, man, maintain and administer any or all of the airports and other air navigation facilities, including radio and meteorological services, required in its territory for the safe, regular, efficient and economical operation of the international air services of the other contracting States.”