Ejercito: ‘Unfair to put blame already’ on Bautista for air traffic control system mess

FILE PHOTO: Senator JV Ejercito. Senate PRIB

MANILA, Philippines — It is “unfair to put the blame already” on Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista for the air traffic management system breakdown on New Year’s Day.

Senator JV Ejercito said this Tuesday, pointing out that Bautista just took the helm of the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

The January 1 chaos at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) affected around 65,000 domestic and international travelers.

READ: Naia power outage, tech glitch shut PH airspace

“It’s also unfair to put the blame already on the new DOTr Secretary Jimmy Bautista because he just also assumed. With that, I really would want to get more information as to who really is responsible,” Ejercito said in an interview with ANC’s Headstart.

The senator recalled that when the news about the airport meltdown broke, sabotage and plain incompetency came to his mind.

Ejercito said the chief representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) told him that Naia’s air traffic control system is not outdated.

“Yesterday, I had the chance — because I also attended the groundbreaking, initial boring with the president — and the Jica officials were there,” he said.

“On the sidelines, the chief representative told me, ‘you know we were the ones also who financed the air traffic management system that became operational in 2018 or 2019,’ and he said that it’s not outdated,” he added.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines previously said that its air traffic management system is obsolete.

READ: CAAP admits: PH’s air traffic management system outdated

For Ejercito, there are two factors that hamper the country’s transport development: “One is poor infrastructure and second is high cost of electricity.”

The Philippines, Ejercito lamented, has “not invested much on transport” for many years.

“For several decades, we really not invested much on transport the way our Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) neighbors did,” he noted.

“We are only investing about 2 percent of the gross domestic product. Supposed to be, it’s 5 percent for infra development,” he continued. “My estimate is that we’re about 30, 35 years behind in terms of infrastructure development and transportation modernization compared to our neighbors.”

The Senate committee on public services will conduct an investigation on the airport turmoil from January 12.

KGA