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PARA sa Department of Transportation (DOTR), hindi malayong sinadya ang pinakahuling aberyang nagdulot ng perwisyo at abala sa operasyon ng Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
Bagamat balik na sa normal ang operasyon sa NAIA, libong pasahero ang napilitan ipagpaliban ang byahe bunsod ng power outage na naganap kasabay ng taunang paggunita sa Araw ng Manggagawa.
Kabilang sa basehan ng DOTr ang anila’y “timing” ng aberya at ang paglilinaw ng Meralco na wala sa kanila ang problema – kundi sa main circuit breaker sa naturang paliparan.
“Because this is the second time that it happened on a long weekend, I think you cannot really discount the possibility of having somebody do it to embarrass the government, or to prove that they have something that we should give into,” ani Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista.
Bago pa man ang naturang aberya, umani ng kabi-kabilang batikos ang DOTr bunsod ng insidenteng naganap noong unang araw ng Enero kung saan naparalisa ang operasyon ng NAIA matapos maputol ang supply ng kuryente sa paliparan, gayundin ang komunikasyon sa mga eroplanong nasa himpapawid pa lamang.
“We’re not discounting the possibility that there might be sabotage. I hope it’s not. That’s the reason why we asked the other agencies to join us.”
Ikinasa na rin ng DOTr ang isang pulong na dadaluhan ng Office of Transport Security, Manila International Airport Authority at National Intelligence Coordinating Agency. Pasok din sa mga inanyayahan lumahok sa isasagawang imbestigasyon ang National Bureau of Investigation at Philippine National Police.
“For now, there is in fact – no circuit breaker problem, it’s not a regular fault that entered the system of NAIA-Terminal 3,” ani Bautista.
“In fact, there are a lot of angles that were considered by NICA yesterday. But of course I do not want to preempt them. So we’ll just wait for the result of their investigations,” Bautista said.
“Well, I think some [of the theories considered] are serious. But I really just want them to look at it,” aniya pa.
Sa Senado, ginawang pulutan sa plenaryo ng tatlong babaeng senador ang pinakabagong bulilyaso ng mga ahensyang nangangasiwa sa operasyon ng NAIA.
Pawang pagkadismaya ang pahayag nina Sen. Nancy Binay, Risa Hontiveros at Grace Poe.
“Again, today’s incident pointed to a string of inadequacies that showed how weak, bad and vulnerable our airports are,” ayon kay Binay kasabay ng pasaring sa aniya’y kabi-kabilang paanyaya sa mga dayuhan na bisitahin ang Pilipinas.
“Para bang tuwing nasa kalagitnaan ang lahat ng long weekend, laging may aberya na nangyayari sa ating mga airport – almost always, passengers have to deal with bad airline experiences, plus the string of technical glitches. Our gateway to the Philippines has literally become a port of inconvenience to travelers and tourists,” ayon pa kay Binay.
“Di ba dapat prepared ang airports natin in these kinds of extra-ordinary and emergency situations lalo pa na summer at peak season ngayon? What happened to the backup and redundant systems that the DOTr and MIAA promised to upgrade?,” dagdag niya.
“Yes, we expect a certain amount of chaos during holidays and peak seasons. But now, outages and technical glitches seem to have become a common occurrence at our airports–‘di na tayo natuto.”
Maging si Hontiveros, hindi naitago ang pagkadismaya.
“When we held a senate investigation on disruptions at the NAIA, concerned government agencies assured us major problems like the one we experienced on New Year’s Day won’t happen again. Pangakong napako nanaman ang tugtugin,” aniya.
Lubos naman pinagtataka ni Hontiveros kung bakit sa tuwing may okasyon nagaganap ang power outage.
“Coincidence lang ba na napupurnada ang lakad ng mga kababayan natin kapag mga araw ng bakasyon? May kaugnayan ba dito ang pinaplanong privatization ng NAIA? O talagang dinededma tayo ng mga pabayang namamahala sa NAIA kaya wala nang tamang pagpaplano para sa mga airport?,” giit niya
“Ano pa man ang dahilan, malinaw na hindi uubra ang economic recovery na hinahangad natin matapos ang pandemya kung magpapatuloy ang ganitong mga kapalpakan!,” himutok ng senadora.
“I hope the flight cancellations won’t affect the jobs of our OFWs, especially in destination countries where employers cancel contracts based on strict re-entry rules. In case this happens, it should be the duty of the government to negotiate on their behalf to ensure that their jobs are protected,” dagdag niya.
Hindi rin nagpaiwan si Poe sa patutsada sa DOTr.
“The lack of functioning air conditioners in several parts of the airport is not only troublesome but could even be precarious to health especially of the elderly,” ayon sa mambabatas.
“Parang di natututo ang DOTr at NAIA sa mga nauna nitong kapalpakan.”
