FILE PHOTO: President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. | PHOTO: official facebook page of the Office of the President
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. apologized Friday for the New Year’s Day disruption at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) and other airports in the country caused by the air traffic management system malfunction.
His apology came as he inspected Naia Terminal 3 almost a week after the fiasco, which either canceled, delayed, or diverted more than 300 domestic and international flights on January 1, affecting at least 56,000 travelers.
Marcos said the airspace mess was a “very unfortunate incident” that no one wanted to happen.
“I’m sorry. Of course, we have to apologize to our kababayans, especially those who came from abroad. Limitado ang kanilang bakasyon. Nawala iyong dalawa o tatlong araw eh. Alam naman natin, very valuable sa Filipino iyong mga Christmas holiday. Kaya kami’y humihingi ng inyong paumanhin at gagawin namin ang lahat nang hindi na maulit ito,” he said.
(I’m sorry. Of course, we must apologize to our countrymen, especially those from abroad. Their vacation is limited. Two or three days were lost. We know that the Christmas holiday is precious for Filipinos. That’s why we ask for their forgiveness, and we will do everything, so this does not happen again.)
READ: January 1, 2023, the day PH airspace went blank, strips mask off air travel woes, outdated system
Marcos then touted the swift response of authorities to the temporary airspace shutdown which, he said, was fixed within six hours.
“Considering how big the problem is, I think that our airport authorities, our Cabinet secretaries and all those who were involved in returning the system had done a reasonably good job. Six hours is a rather short time considering how much [is] needed to be done to get the system back up into working condition,” he said.
Marcos also noted that the government had extended various forms of assistance to thousands of passengers affected by the airspace fiasco.
But to prevent a repeat of the chaos in all airports across the country, Marcos said he has instructed Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista to fastrack negotiations being made with suppliers, who can help the Philippines upgrade the softwares and hardwares of its equipment.
Marcos pointed out that it was a faulty circuit breaker that had caused the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to shut down.
“Iyong circuit breaker na naging problema, napalitan na. Bago na iyong naka-install ngayon. Iyong mga UPS, we did an emergency procurement and we are going to procure two units of UPS para meron tayong main at saka meron tayong back up,” he added.
(The circuit breaker that became the root of the problem has been changed. A new one was installed. We did an emergency procurement of the UPS, and we are going to procure two units of UPS, so we’ll have one main equipment and one backup equipment.)
Marcos was in China for a three-day state visit. He returned to the Philippines on Thursday.
RELATED STORIES
CAAP admits: PH’s air traffic management system outdated
Senate sets hearing on PH air traffic management system glitch — Poe
Tugade on alleged fund diversion after air system traffic glitch: ‘Farthest from the truth’
Lock up air traffic control fund diverters – Lacson