Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 3) — The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) will be led by Senior Assistant General Manager Bryan Co as officer-in-charge while acting General Manager Cesar Chiong is under preventive suspension over claims of grave abuse of authority.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista confirmed this on Wednesday, saying Co’s designation was approved during the special board meeting of the MIAA.
In a decision dated April 28 but made public only on Tuesday, the Office of the Ombudsman ordered the preventive suspension of Chiong without pay for six months after several MIAA employees complained that he reassigned them without providing a reason barely a month after assuming office in July 2022.
Also preventively suspended for six months was MIAA acting assistant general manager Irene Montalbo.
In a press briefing, Co said he doesn’t see any problem in leading the agency as interim chief amid issues hounding it, including the May 1 power outage at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 that affected thousands of passengers.
“Of course, the main task is how to maintain the momentum in terms of all the improvements that we’re introducing, because as we’ve mentioned before, a lot of the improvements will take some time,” Co said.
“We don’t see any challenge as far as we complete all of the tasks that are mandated to us…The transition will be seamless, I think, in terms of what we’ve been doing,” he added.
