Solon fears air traffic control glitch has a dark undertone

Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 (Image from MIAA)

MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker representing teachers in the House of Representatives on Monday expressed fears that the recent glitch in the air traffic control system at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) could be used to push for its privatization.

“The timing is quite fishy,” said Act Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro in a statement on Monday.

Castro noted that on December 30, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista announced that the present administration is pushing for NAIA’s privatization, then the glitch happened during New Year’s Day.

“With the announcement of DOTr to privatize NAIA last December 30 and the ‘power outage’ yesterday, we could not blame the people to think that this could be intentional to rush its privatization without consulting the people,” Castro stressed.

On Sunday, hundreds of flights were either delayed, canceled, or diverted to other airports, affecting over 56,000 passengers scheduled to arrive at or depart from NAIA and other airports.

Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines Director General Capt. Manuel Tamayo said that it was the power supply of the Air Traffic Management Center Communications, Navigation and Surveillance Systems for Air Traffic Management that had failed and caused damage to key components.

 gsg/abc