DMIA loses 2 km of power cable to theft

CLARK FREEPORT—The Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) lost 2,195 meters of high-voltage power cables to suspects who broke into highly restricted areas through passes purportedly issued by the president of the state-owned Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC).

The missing cables, installed on Runway 2 and Taxiway F5, are worth P2.655 million, according to a Sept. 9 memorandum of Ruel Angeles, CIAC engineering and maintenance manager, to Jose Marlowe Pedregosa, airport security manager.

The implications are grave, said Reynaldo Catacutan, CIAC vice president for airport operations management group.

What were stolen belonged to a backup system that lights a runway, taxiway and the entire airfield, Catacutan said.

The backup was installed in 1995 in compliance with a requirement of the International Civil Aviation Organization, a safety regulation body of the United Nations.

“In any case the primary power cables need to be shut down for technical troubles, the alternative source of power won’t work because the cables have been stolen,” said Catacutan.

“Security and safety were compromised,” he added, putting the blame on Victor Jose Luciano, CIAC president and chief executive officer.

Luciano, who developed the DMIA into a hub for international budget carriers, called the latest controversy a product of another campaign by a former CIAC manager to oust him from the firm. He did not name the former official.

Luciano said the latest issue cropped up after the CIAC board dismissed the brother of the former manager for “theft of company property.”

He confirmed writing an undated letter to issue passes to four men—Cesar Mayo, Jose Canete III and Nilo and Rolly Padua, all working for the ACP Manpower—who turned out to be the suspects.

The four men have not been arrested or charged but they appeared for questioning during the investigation, transcripts showed.