Gov't did its job on NAIA runway mishap –Tugade
Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade on Wednesday said the government did its best to respond to the runway mishap at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) two weeks ago.
Appearing at the Senate Committee on Public Services' inquiry on the accident involving Xiamen Air flight MF8667 that went off at NAIA
Terminal 1 runway last August 16, Tugade apologized anew to the passengers affected by the incident.
"Allow me to express my sincerest apology. It was a regrettable incident that is not of our own liking as it is not (also) of our own making. I am deeply sorry for the inconveniences caused by the incident," the Department of Transportation (DOTr) chief said in his opening statement.
He, however, maintained that the concerned government agencies were not remiss in responding to the incident, particularly, in recovering the disabled plane as soon as possible.
"We can look you in the eye and tell you that we did what had to be done. We did our best given the circumstances. Could we have done better? Sure. But did we do our job? Yes," Tugade told the Senate panel.
"Hindi kami nawalan ng direksyon, diskarte at focus.Iyan ang dahilan kung bakit 'di kami nataranta. Ginawa namin ang aming trabaho (We did not lose direction, strategy and focus. That's the reason why we did not give in to pressure. We did our job)," he reiterated.
Tugade also defended Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Ed Monreal, for the recovery operations that took 36 hours.
He said they had to be careful in removing the Boeing 737-800 aircraft from the runway to prevent further damages. The plane was loaded with four tons of unused fuel, he said.
"One wrong move, the entire thing will explode," Tugade said.
He also noted that "muddy terrain and strong wind," slowed them down. He added they also had to pause and consider their workers' safety when red lightning alerts were raised.
"It took us 36 hours. I won't say that was fast enough, but I'd say it was a reasonable time given the circumstances," Tugade said.
"We are not trying to justify what happened, it was an accident that no one wanted. We responded as fast as we could, we tried to minimize inconveniences the way we could," he added.
Tugade said the MIAA had followed its manual on recovering the Xiamen plane, particularly, in employing a third party contractor to lift it.
Tugade, citing the MIAA manual, said they had to be in charge of the recovery since Xiamen Airlines, being a foreign company, has limited resources to respond to the accident. He maintained that the NAIA is not lacking in equipment based on international standards.
Monreal, in the hearing, clarified it did not take long to remove the Xiamen plane. It was the "mobilization" of the crane used for the plane’s recovery that took about three hours to be built.
He said they were also faced with the problem of a malfunctioning fuel pump as they were about to unload the aircraft’s fuel. It took three more hours for the defueling tank from a private company to arrive at the airport, he said.
Tugade, for his part, admitted that he did not go to the airport during the runway accident to supposedly prevent distraction. He, however, said he was "on top" of the issue making calls during the 36-hour operation.