Today, our national legislators will start their investigation, in aid of legislation, on the technical blip at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on January 1, which canceled and delayed flights affecting at least 65,000 outgoing and incoming passengers.
At the same time, Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the Committee on Public Services, has said hearings will be done during the legislative break—the regular session resumes on January 23—which in their calendar will start two days after the House committee on Transportation starts determining the liability of air transportation officials.
The Senate committee will inquire into the technical malfunction at the country’s premier gateway which halted over 300 flights, with Poe describing the incident one of “national security” and safety.
Poe said the hearing would determine liability, and identify measures needed to avoid malfunctions in the future, adding “We will conduct an inquiry and direct them to submit a full report of what caused the supposed glitch and power outage.
“This is a national security concern. Thousands of lives depend on the efficiency and competence of CAAP,” she said.
The House Transportation Committee chair, Rep. Romeo Acop, and the Good Governance and Public Accountability Committee chair, Rep. Florida Robes, have filed separate bills seeking an inquiry.
“This is what the committee wants to know – accountability: where did it all go wrong, was this a ‘force majeure’ or an act resulting from negligence, and whose negligence?” said Robes, one of the inbound passengers put out by the shutdown.
Robes noted the current CNS/ATM was funded by a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency in 2003 worth 22,049 million yen, but was inaugurated only in January 2018.
She said data from the Department of Budget and Management showed the government continued to receive the loan package even in 2021.
Aside from the JICA loan, the 2017 national budget allotted P122,273,000 for the CNS/ATM project.
In both instances, we join stakeholders and air travelers in watching developments in both chambers, following allegations funds worth P13 billion meant for the modernization of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines or CAAP were rerouted.
There have been contentions the amount, meant for CAAP’s communications, navigation, surveillance and air traffic management system were merely diverted to “cosmetic projects” during the term of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade.
Tugade has since dismissed the allegation as being “farthest from the truth” and stressed he “always instructed a backup” and “a redundancy plan” for the country’s CNS/ATM system.
This stands for Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance Systems for Air Traffic Management which uses various systems including satellite systems, and varying levels of automation to achieve a seamless global Air Traffic Management system.
Tugade has also identified DOTr officials—past or present—who “cannot deny this.”
Understandably, the technical breakdown has caused “incalculable” human and economic cost, in the words of Senator Risa Hontiveros “a wake-up call for our airport authorities to review the aggressive schedules of airlines during busy seasons.”
It is in the public’s interest that a transparent report on the technical impairment be made soon enough to help Congress address this during the budget hearings.