Ejercito fears privatizing Naia will backfire; Go wants full review

Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). Image from MIAA

MANILA, Philippines — The privatization of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) will not benefit the public, Senator JV Ejercito believed, while Senator Christopher “Bong” Go said that a thorough review of the proposal is needed.

The senators made the remarks in separate statements on Tuesday after the power outage at the Philippine Air Traffic Management Center on New Year’s Day, which affected at least 56,000 passengers.

“Naia privatization will not be good at all. Malabo yan,” Ejercito said. “We should already learn our mistakes of the past, napakarami ng vital utilities that were privatized… Ano ba ang naging pakinabang sa bansa?”

(Naia privatization will not be good at all. That will not happen. We should already learn from our mistakes of the past. Many vital utilities were privatized. What was its benefit to the country?)

“Vital utilities should be controlled by the government,” he added.

Ejercito stressed that the control of vital industries and utilities must be returned to the government.

Ejercito said the technical glitch should be an “eye-opener” that air traffic was paralyzed just like that.

Meanwhile, Go said that the suggestion of privatization must be thoroughly reviewed.

“It may be too early to say that privatizing Naia will solve the problem. This proposal needs to be thoroughly studied further taking all aspects into consideration. There is, however, the urgent need to enhance further the equipment and facilities at Naia — the gateway to our country for investors, tourists, OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) and travelers,” he said.

Two days before the airport fiasco, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista announced that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration was pushing to privatize Naia.

Three resolutions have been filed in the upper chamber to investigate the airport meltdown.

JPV/abc