Senate body to begin air traffic fiasco probe on Jan. 12

MANILA, Jan 5 (Mabuhay) -- The Senate Committee on Public Services will start on Jan. 12 the inquiry on the New Year air traffic mess that affected more than 56,000 passengers, Senator Grace Poe announced Wednesday.

Poe, chair of the Public Services committee, said the committee could still hold inquiries even during the break.

However, she said the committee could not immediately convene and hold the investigation since it wants to give the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and the Department of Transportation (DOTR) ample time to normalize airport operations before they appear to the body.

"We can conduct hearings even during the break. I intend to call for a hearing on Thursday, Jan. 12, allowing CAAP & DOTR to normalize airport operations before conducting a hearing. By that time, key executives should not have an excuse not to attend," Poe said.

Aside from Poe, other senators filed resolutions seeking to thoroughly investigate the NAIA fiasco to determine who were liable for the incident and to avoid such occurrence in the future that could jeopardize national security.

Meanwhile, Senator Nancy Binay expressed apprehension over the idea of privatizing the national aviation system, saying it is critical to national security concerns.

“Non-negotiable yan (This is non-negotiable), otherwise that means reducing the government's involvement and control of our airspace," Binay said.

She clarified, however, that she is open to some proposals to privatize the commercial operations within the airport complex.

"We welcome privatization in terms of commercial operations within the airport complex, but we should not be entertaining private handling of air traffic because it impairs national security," she added.

Senator JV Ejercito earlier hinted that the privatization of NAIA would not do any good to the country, similar to other public utilities that were privatized during the past administrations.

Ejercito cited the National Power Corporation plants, National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, National Steel Corporation, and Fort Bonifacio which were already privatized but brought no benefit to the country.

"Vital utilities should be controlled by the government. The NAIA glitch should be an eye-opener that just like that, the air traffic was paralyzed," Ejercito said.

DOTr, CAAP to expedite facilities upgrade to avoid glitches

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) are looking to expedite the upgrade of facilities and replace affected equipment following the New Year's Day technical glitch that resulted in suspended flight operations in several of the country's major airports.

In a statement on Wednesday, the CAAP said the decision to upgrade came after a meeting with various heads of government agencies on Tuesday.

“After CAAP reported their investigation and traced the most likely cause of the glitch, DOTr

Secretary Jaime Bautista said Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan John Uy offered to assist CAAP in expediting acquisition,” it said.

During the meeting, National Security Adviser Clarita Carlos suggested declaring such communications and electrical equipment as vital to national security to accelerate its purchase and prevent a repeat of the incident.

CAAP reported that the glitch does not appear to be the result of a cybercrime “because affected electrical equipment cannot be manipulated from outside CAAP compound.”

“Nonetheless, a review will still be conducted by cyber-security experts,” it said.

The meeting was followed by an inspection of affected equipment and facilities inside the CAAP compound by heads and representatives of the DOTr, DICT, Department of National Defense, National Intelligence Coordination Agency and Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

In a radio interview, Bautista said he received news of the glitch at around 10 a.m. on Sunday and immediately informed President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

“Ang sabi niya ay pilitin nating maayos ‘yan as soon as possible and 'yung mga maapektuhan na pasahero see to it na they are taken care of (Marcos said we should try to fix it as soon as possible and affected passengers must be taken care of),” he said.

Aside from providing food and drinks to passengers, he said those with canceled flights have been rebooked without additional fees while diverted flights were coordinated with different airports.

On Sunday, the CAAP Air Traffic Management system and its backup failed, stranding hundreds of flights and thousands of passengers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Clark, Mactan, Davao and other CAAP-operated airports.

The incident was the result of a loss of power due to a problem in the system’s electrical network and the failure of its uninterruptible power supply that served as the backup power supply.

DMW assists 3K OFWs affected by air system mess

Over 3,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) affected by the New Year’s Day air system glitch at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) that led to numerous flight cancellations were able to receive assistance from the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).

In a Laging Handa public briefing on Wednesday, DMW Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac said the department helped the OFWs rebook their flights and were provided with food packs and hotel accommodations while awaiting their flight schedules.

“Ngayon, January 4, mayroon pa ring mga lumilipad out of the country from their rebooked flights noong January 1; at sa pagkakaintindi ko until mga January 5 or 6 iyong rebooking noong karamihan (Today, January 4, there are still those flying out of the country from their rebooked flights on January 1; and as far as I understand, most of the rebooked flights would be until around January

5 or 6). So, we had around 3,000 assisted [OFWs] that day),” Cacdac said.

The official said DMW has deployed teams at the NAIA to continuously assist OFWs.

He also said OFWs who needed assistance in communicating with their employers in explaining the delay of their arrivals in the host country were also assisted, as ordered by DMW Secretary Susan ‘Toots’ Ople.

“May direktiba si Secretary Toots sa kaniyang mga labor attachés na kausapin iyong mga employers na mayroong mga katanungan o pagkaklaro na kinakailangan dito sa mga nangyaring pagka-cancel ng mga flights (Secretary Toots has directed the labor attachés to talk to those employers who have questions or clarifications regarding the cancellation of flights),” Cacdac said.

He also expressed gratitude to the Department of Transportation, the Manila International Airport Authority management, and the airline companies who helped them assist the affected OFWs.

As of Jan. 3, Cacdac said around 200 OFWs are still staying in hotels awaiting their rebooked flight schedules.

At least 56,000 passengers were affected by the air system mess last Sunday.

DOTr, CAAP have no contractual obligation to compensate passengers -- Bautista

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) have no contractual obligation to refund passengers affected by the hours-long shutdown of the Philippine airspace due to a power supply glitch on New Year’s Day, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said Wednesday.

Bautista said the legality of compensating affected air travelers should be carefully studied.

The Transportation chief made the remark after Albay Representative Joey Salceda called on the government, the CAAP in particular, to compensate the thousands of passengers whose flights were grounded due to a power outage of the country’s air traffic management system.

“Dapat pagaralan natin ang legality nito ano [It’s legality should be studied],” Bautista said.

“Unang una, ‘yung CAAP at saka DOTr wala kaming arrangement with the passengers, ‘di katulad ng airlines. Bumili sila ng ticket, merong obligation ang mga airlines na ilipad sila o i-refund ang kanilang pamasahe ‘pag hindi naka-refund,” he added.

Salceda cited the Joint Administrative Order (JAO) No. 1 s. 2012 of the Transportation and Trade Departments, which states that “[I]n case the air carrier cancels the flight because of force majeure, safety and/ or security reasons, as certified by the CAAPs, a passenger shall have the right to be reimbursed for the full value of the fare.”

The lawmaker said CAAP should certify the event as a “safety reason for cancellation so that a reimbursement mechanism can be set into motion.”