Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 3) — Local think tank Infrawatch PH said high-ranking officials of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) must quit their posts following the NAIA fiasco on New Year’s Day, affecting thousands of travelers.
In an interview with CNN Philippines, Infrawatch PH convenor Terry Ridon said CAAP’s explanation was “unacceptable” as the crisis brought “international embarrassment” to the Philippines.
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“Dahil ito ay isang international embarrassment, hindi lang ito national humiliation, talagang very important ‘yung panawagan na dapat mag-offer to resign ‘yung high-level CAAP officials na accountable sa publiko,” he said.
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[Translation: Because this is an international embarrassment, not just a national humiliation, it’s really very important to call for the resignation of high-level CAAP officials accountable to the public.]
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The power outage and technical glitch at the country’s main air hub disrupted hundreds of flights on Sunday, leaving at least 65,000 passengers stranded.
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Ridon said the lack of budget should not be an excuse for CAAP, stressing the latter could have employed a program to check and repair its equipment.
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“CAAP has billions of pesos in regular, programmed funding for air traffic management system upgrades. The need for upgrades does not explain yesterday’s operational failure, because inasmuch as it is a technical problem, it is also a failure in leadership to determine whether existing upgrade protocols are sufficient to avoid yesterday’s incident,” Ridon said in a separate statement.
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Critics also called on Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) officials to resign, including General Manager Cesar Chiong.
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Chiong, meanwhile, told CNN Philippines’ The Final Word that they were too preoccupied with fixing the air traffic fiasco to think about quitting their posts.
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“Honestly, I haven’t thought about that because we’re so focused on trying to put all the operations together and discussions with all the different airlines on some of the lessons that we learned from this experience and how we can make it better,” Chiong said.
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The general manager also apologized for the incident and assured the public they are “doing their best given the situation.”
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“We sincerely apologize for what happened and the government basically is looking at how we can ensure that this thing won’t happen again, and we’re looking for all ways for us not to experience this glitch again,” Chiong said.
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CAAP has yet to comment on the resignation call.
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Sen. Grace Poe, who chairs the Senate committee on public services, said on Monday that the Senate would conduct an investigation into the NAIA mess.
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The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said Tuesday that normal operations at NAIA may return by Jan. 4 or 5.
