Independent body now handles investigation into CAAP’s airport fiasco
Passengers wait for information about their flights at terminal 3 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay, Metro Manila on January 1, 2023. Thousands of travelers were stranded at Philippine airports on January 1 after a “loss of communication” at the country’s busiest hub in Manila forced hundreds of flights to be cancelled, delayed or diverted. (Photo by KEVIN TRISTAN ESPIRITU / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines — An independent investigation has been launched into the technical failure that disrupted hundreds of flights and left thousands stranded on New Year’s Day, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said Wednesday.
Prior to the probe, several calls were made urging the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to inhibit from the investigation to ensure objectivity, one of which was Senator Grace Poe, who chairs the Senate public services committee.
According to DOTr, citing Undersecretary for Aviation Roberto Lim during the continuation of the House hearing on the New Year’s Day incident, an investigating body comprised of representatives from the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) is now heading the investigation on the said incident.
The CAAP, on the other hand, has been officially inhibited from participating in the investigation.
“We want to advise that there is an external investigating body or committee that has been organized and will lead the investigation of this incident. It is external because it [comprises] the DOTr, DICT, Cyber Investigation Crime Commission, NBI, NICA. You will note that CAAP is not part of this investigating committee,” Lim said in the hearing also conducted on Wednesday.
Lim added that representatives of the said participating agencies have already visited the site of the Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) system — CAAP’s navigation system
“So far, [they] have visited the site. They inspected the relevant parts of the facility, they interviewed people, testimonies from people directly involved in operating, manning and supervising the CNS/ATM,” he said.
Besides these, Lim said that a vulnerability test is also being conducted on the CNS/ATM system and its equipment.
According to Lim, the investigation could take weeks before submitting the body’s findings and recommendations to the committee.
Hearing
The said hearing was participated by the DOTr on Wednesday, along with its attached agencies tackling the incident which caused a total of 600 flights to either diverted, canceled, or delayed, affecting at least 65,000 passengers.
It was presided over by the Committee on Transportation at the Speaker Nograles Hall, House of Representatives in Quezon City.
During the hearing, the Committee on Transportation requested for an official report from concerned government agencies relative to the incident, including the result of forensic investigation on the CNS/ATM, provided by the DICT.
Several DOTr officials were present in the hearing apart from Lim, including Undersecretary for Legal Affairs and Chief of Staff Reinier Paul Yebra, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Commuter Affairs Hector Villacorta, CAAP Director General Manuel Antonio Tamayo, Acting-Chief of the Air Navigation Service Arnold Balucating, Acting Assistant Director General Marlene Singson, and Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla.
The committee also invited other experts, government agencies’ and airline representatives.
It was on January 1 when CAAP’s air traffic system shut down following a power outage.
Several lawmakers have already lodged separate resolutions to investigate the incident, with CAAP earlier accepting full responsibility for the New Year’s Day air traffic management disaster.
