MANILA, Philippines — The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) has promised to repair the faulty escalators at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminals 2 and 3 as soon as possible.
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri initially raised the alarm over the defective escalator at Naia Terminal 3, noting that it has been months since the equipment broke down.
“I’m not saying you’re not doing anything about it, but we need to know what you’re doing about it because it seems like it’s not working — whatever system you have in place. It’s been how many months?” said Zubiri during the Senate’s Tuesday hearing on the state of international and domestic airports in the Philippines.
Zubiri proceeded to show a photo of the broken Naia Terminal 3 escalator, asking if the escalator remains broken to date. Resource speakers at the hearing answered in the affirmative.
For his part, MIAA General Manager Eric Jose Ines said the delay in repairing the escalator at Naia Terminal 3 was due to the non-availability of its spare parts.
“I found out that this was given to a contractor — a sole contractor, a sole distributor of Mitsubishi, and it took them — I think they made an order sometime mid-2023 – what the supplier said – the contractor of Mitsubishi’s sole contributor — [is that] it will take six months to deliver the spare [parts], kasi wala pong spare parts,” said Ines.
However, this did not sit well with Ines, who emphasized the need to immediately fix the broken escalator, leading him to suggest procuring parts from another supplier.
“Now, ang sinabi ko po by hook or by crook get that escalator and those escalators running. And we’re trying to run it kung maaari may timeline po kaming binigay — iba na po ang kinuhaan namin. Kung dumating man ang inorder nila na 6 months ago [ay] magiging extra na lang po yun. What we did is [buy] locally — made in China lang po, pero it’s going to work,” said Ines.
(Now, what I said is by hook or by crook, get that escalator and those escalators running. And we’re trying to run it. We have a timeline — we procured from another supplier. If what they initially ordered six months ago arrives, it’ll only be an extra. What we did was buy locally. It’s made in China, but it will work.)
“I think we’re running it before…by the end of June, aayusin na po namin ‘yun. Kasi nakita ko, naramdaman ko rin po yun. Ang hirap po bumaba doon,” he added.
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(By the end of June, we will get it fixed. Because I’ve seen it. I’ve felt it. It’s tough to go down there.)
Ines said he was “very adamant” and was “very strong” in saying what needed to be done. He added that there are also defective escalators at Naia Terminal 2.
“Yung domestic po, arrival din po. Ganon din po ang sitwasyon, kaya sabi ko pati na yun idamay na rin po,” he added.
(Domestic and arrival too. It’s the same situation. That’s why I said, let’s fix it too.)