Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 22) — The Senate has ended proceedings on the air traffic system failure that left tens of thousands of passengers stranded last New Year’s Day.
In their last plenary session Wednesday before going on Holy Week break, senators unanimously adopted the findings and recommendations of the Committee on Public Services, which led the investigation. The committee report was approved with no amendments. Among the key recommendations is to limit the functions of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to airport regulation, instead of being both regulator and operator. During the session, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel asked why the committee did not recommend charges against anyone.The head of the panel, Senator Grace Poe, said its legislative probe focused on the cause of the air traffic system shutdown, which was a “confluence of factors and errors.” Poe also reiterated that problems with the Communications, Navigation and Surveillance Systems for Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) spanned several administrations, but she agreed that a further probe is needed to prosecute those accountable. CAAP is already overburdened being the operator and regulator. Our proposal is for CAAP to just to be a regulator, and for a separate body to be in charge of operations. In that way, CAAP can call out the operator if they are not doing their jobs properly,” the senator said.
