Let’s protect PHL’S pleasant global image

THe Philippines welcomed 2023 with an incident at the country’s premier gateway that crippled international and domestic flights. Described as “absolute nightmare”, the New Year fiasco at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) disrupted 285 flights and altered the travel plans of some 65,000 passengers. The cause: An allegedly preventable air traffic system foul-up.

The Department of Transportation has launched a probe, and senators are also planning an investigation.

Initial reports said a power outage was responsible for the incident. However, in an online press conference, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) Director General (Ret.) Capt. Manuel Tamayo both said that power supply was available. The disaster, it turned out, was traced to a technical issue related to the airport’s Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance/air Traffic Management (CNS/ ATM) System.

Transportation officials in the Duterte administration may have failed— deliberately or not—to spend P13 billion appropriated by Congress in 2018 for a vital backup in the air traffic control system, then declared this as savings and realigned it for what are billed as “cosmetic” civil works at the airport. Former senator Panfilo Lacson raised this possibility on Tuesday in reply to a Businessmirror query on a report that during DOTR Secretary Arturo Tugade’s watch, the P13 billion for “redundancies” in the ATC system under the Caap was diverted to non-essential civil works at the airport. That backup system is now being seen as the vital cog that could have prevented the massive New Year’s glitch that paralyzed flights at Naia. (Read, “Check ‘diversion’ of aviation gear fund–ping,” in the Businessmirror, January 4, 2023).

Reacting to reports of an alleged diversion of the P13-billion outlay, Lacson tweeted on Tuesday: “Stupidity or greed? If reports are accurate that the budget appropriated by Congress for the setup of redundancies in the air traffic control system was diverted to some beautification projects at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, those responsible should spend their next holiday season in jail.”

“Incidentally, DOTR is one of the departments with the worst underspending record, year in and year out. The P13 billion must have been part of their unspent appropriations, declared as savings, then realigned,” Lacson said. He expressed hope that the Senate Public Services Committee, chaired by Sen. Grace Poe, “can look more deeply into the history of that particular appropriation” when the Senate inquiry into the January 1 fiasco rolls around.

Former secretary Arthur Tugade asked former Transportation undersecretary Artemio Tuazon to be his spokesperson to clarify claims that he supposedly caused the diversion of P13 billion in funds to upgrade the CNS/ATM System at Naia. Tuazon said Tugade “did not commit malversation of funds for the CNS/ATM System.” (Read, “No diversion of radar funds by ex-dotr chief Tugade,” in the Businessmirror, January 4, 2023).

Tuazon clarified that the funding for the CNS/ATM System was under the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) and that the Naia beautification project was under the Manila International Airport Authority. Caap and Miaa are attached agencies of the DOTR. Tuazon clarified that the DOTR merely had “oversight functions” over the two agencies, which have their own legal charters.

“They are two different agencies and we cannot divert funds without Congressional approval—that action will be flagged by the Commission on Audit. As he is a lawyer, Tugade is not stupid to do that. It’s not true that there was a diversion of funds,” he said.

The urgent need to look deeper into the Naia fiasco that crippled international and domestic flights can’t be overemphasized. The country can’t afford another preventable incident like this, especially now that our tourism industry is starting to recover. The Philippines is perceived as the friendliest country in Asia. Let’s not allow bureaucratic inefficiencies and misappropriation of public funds to destroy the country’s pleasant global image.