Poe believes CAAP ‘almost 100% responsible’ for air traffic fiasco

MANILA, Philippines — The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) is “almost 100 percent” responsible for the controversial air traffic fiasco, Senator Grace Poe believes.

On New Year’s Day, around 65,000 passengers were affected by a power outage that downed the air navigation facilities of CAAP.

READ: Naia power outage, tech glitch shut PH airspace

According to Poe, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Services, almost all of the liability is with CAAP.

“I think CAAP is almost 100 percent responsible for this because when it comes to the operations of commercial air traffic and giving of the permits, it’s CAAP and CAB (Civil Aeronautics Board),” Poe said on ANC Headstart.

“But, CAB deals more with the economic aspect and CAAP is the operations. Definitely, they’re responsible because those are the people that they assigned there to the air traffic control towers,” she pointed out.

Poe stressed that she is not specifically blaming air traffic operators as “a lot of them were very skilled.”

Transport chief shouldn’t resign

Meanwhile, Poe was asked if she agrees with calls for Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista to resign following the mess.

READ: DOTr’s Jimmy Bautista, MIAA-CAAP heads should resign

She replied: “Absolutely not. First of all, Secretary Bautista was just sworn into office. This is a long-standing situation. As I mentioned, the bidding process, the approval happened decades ago, if we are to follow supposedly what they said that the study began in 2000, 2001.”

The senator said that Bautista’s leadership will be put to test after the airport meltdown.

“Definitely, the leadership of our secretary of transportation will be tested now if there should be an impartial investigation of who are truly liable for the fiasco,” she said.

Airport, air traffic control system privatization

Poe was also asked if it was time to privatize the country’s air traffic control system.

The senator responded by saying it was already time for privatization not just of the air traffic control system, but also the airport.

“Not just the air traffic control system but the airport itself, I have always pushed for privatization,” the senator said.

She shared that they have been meeting about privatization with a mega-consortium since 2017 or 2018.

“Can you imagine if we awarded it to them in 2018 or 2019? During the pandemic, it would have been a downturn to them. But, they could have rehabilitated the airport easily because there wasn’t so much activity during that time,” she explained.

“It’s a staggering amount that they would invest to upgrade the facilities of the airport, to expand the terminals and the services… If they say, ‘perhaps it’s time for this,’ I believe it’s time for this,” Poe continued.

Poe’s committee is set to investigate the airport fiasco on January 12.

READ: Senate sets hearing on PH air traffic management system glitch — Poe

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