DOTr: Gov’t not to give up Naia’s assets but to allow private sector to manage airport
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) on Tuesday clarified that the government is not eyeing to give up its assets of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) to the private sector, but only have the latter manage the operations.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista made the clarification after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said that the Philippines is considering a private company to manage Naia.
“Ang ibig sabihin ng Presidente, hindi naman natin ibibigay sa private sector ‘yung assets ng Naia. Ang ibig niyang sabihin it’s the private sector who will manage the operations through a concession agreement,” he said in a Palace briefing.
(What the President meant is that we will not give our assets of Naia to the private sector; he meant that it will be the private sector who will manage the operations through a concession agreement.)
He said two of the country’s airports are undergoing such an arrangement — the Mactan-Cebu Airport and the Clark International Airport.
“‘Yung assets remained with the government but ‘yung operations ay ginagawa ng private sector,” Bautista said.
(The asset remained with the government but the operations were done by the private sector.)
Marcos earlier said the government has no plans to privatize Naia, contradicting Bautista’s earlier remark that the government was working to expedite the privatization of the airport.
Marcos said the transportation chief may have “misspoke or was misinterpreted.”
However, he said that he and government officials met with a company, which he did not name, during their trip to New York last year to manage the airport.
Representatives of the firm were in Manila “last week to look at the operation of the airport.”
“They said that without new equipment, without building a new runway, they can increase the traffic from what is presently they refer to as 35 movements per hour to 45 movements per hour. We want that. They have a huge experience in running ports and running airports,” Marcos said.
