Palace: Renaming of NAIA up to Congress

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Monday distanced itself from some lawmakers’ move to rename the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

“Iniiwan po namin ‘yan sa Kongreso dahil kinakailangan po ng batas kung kinakailangan palitan ang pangalan ng NAIA,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in an online briefing.

(We are leaving that to Congress since a law is needed to change NAIA’s name.)

President Rodrigo Duterte’s son Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte alongside two other solons filed a bill seeking to rename NAIA to “Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Pilipinas.”

The younger Duterte, alongside Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco and ACT-CIS Representative Eric Go Yap, said that with the proposed name, the airport will be “easily be identified as the international doorway of the country.”

The lawmakers’ move, however, did not sit well with Vice President Leni Robredo who said it was “ill-timed” given the country’s battle against COVID-19. 

Some senators also criticized the move saying it was divisive to rename it in the middle of a pandemic.

JE