SEVERAL senators grilled on Thursday, January 12, 2023, officials of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr) over the technical glitch that shut down air navigation facilities at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) last January 1, 2023.

Senator Grace Poe, who chairs the Senate Committee on Public Services, said heads must roll.

According to Poe who filed the resolution to investigate the matter, officials must explain to the Filipino people what really transpired.

Senator Jose Jinggoy Estrada asked CAAP Director General Capt. Manuel Antonio Tamayo, “What really happened?” Tamayo explained before the committee that the circuit breaker had tripped, affecting the whole system.

Tamayo said the maintenance and technicians are doing their job. He explained that technicians at that time tried to bypass the damaged UPS and placed an automatic voltage regulator that would limit the power coming into the system to 220 volts.

It was reported that the power supply issue was fixed then but it issued a warning for overvoltage as the system was receiving 380 volts.

This prompted their technicians to shut down the system to avoid damage to key components. However, some parts were already hit by the high voltage.

“UPS went on standby. A series of texts was done by the technician. It turned out after power was allowed to energize that it was actually the circuit breaker. Nung nag bukas na ang kuryente, the people detected a burning smell. They turned off the whole system to protect the whole system. We replaced the circuit breaker.” Tamayo explained before the investigating committee.

Earlier, Tamayo said the commercial UPS and the backup UPS that are being used by CAAP failed.

He then explained that when one of the UPS failed at 9:49 due to a cooling blower conking out, the other UPS also failed, leaving the CNS/ATM powerless.

Based on reports, a failure in the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) equipment being used by CAAP triggered the technical problems that affected flight operations at NAIA.

Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista earlier explained that the failed UPS equipment is linked to the power supply of the communications, navigations, and surveillance system for Air Traffic management of the CAAP’s Philippine Air traffic Management Center.

It can be recalled that Meralco for its part released a statement that there was a steady supply of power from its end. The failure then points to CAAP and its navigation equipment.

Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito Estrada reminded officials to be on guard saying they should have a backup plan and should anticipate all possibilities in order to avoid the same incident in the future.

“Dapat walang mag le leave sa ganitong panahon ng bakasyunan. Dapat lahat kayo nakabantay,” Ejercito said.

Sen. Poe also gave former Transport Arturo Tugade to explain his side as he denied that he diverted the funds during his stint.

“Wala pong opportunidad na mag divert dahil napupunta agad sa contractor to. Hindi po possible yun.” Tugade explained.

Senator Win Gatchalian said CAAP and other connecting agencies must be very careful saying that the vulnerabilities of the country’s airport infrastructure system are very important to the image of the country.

Gatchalian said officials must ensure that there is no repeat of the incident in the future.

“If left unchecked, any vulnerabilities could undermine government efforts to safeguard economic recovery initiatives for the tourism and transportation sectors,” Gatchalian said, as he filed Senate Resolution 421 calling for an inquiry into the incident, which supposedly stemmed from a technical glitch involving the Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance Systems for Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM).

Gatchalian said the inquiry should also zero in on security and redundancy measures in all aspects of the country’s air transportation system to avoid similar incidents and ensure the safety, convenience, and rights of affected passengers, Gatchalian emphasized.

As a result of the New Year glitch, there were reported flight cancellations, diversions, and delays affecting up to 66 thousand passengers. The incident, which caused a shutdown of the country’s entire airspace for about 10 hours, resulted in an estimated revenue loss of P131.97 million based on the average daily revenue of the flight segment sector from 2020 to 2022 of P316.73 billion, as per data from Statista.

Gatchalian also noted that following the incident, various speculations have come out as to the reported cause of the technical glitch at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) that included the vulnerability of the system to cyberattacks, sabotage diversion of budget allotted for the system to non-essential civil works at NAIA, absence of back-up system outside airport premises, and plain incompetence among traffic control personnel, among others,

Aside from causing revenue loss and inconvenience to stranded passengers, the New Year incident also jeopardized the employment of some overseas Filipino workers who could not return to their employers on time.

“Kailangan nating malaman ang puno’t dulo ng mga ganitong pangyayari upang bigyang-daan ng awtoridad ang mga kinakailangang aksyon, kabilang ang mga redundancy measures para masigurong hindi na maulit ang ganitong mga insidente at para din mapanagot ang mga nasa likod nito,” Gatchalian said.

Further, “the incident set back the government’s initiatives to promote the country as a tourism destination,” he added. By CAMILLE P. BALAGTAS & PS JUN M. SARMIENTO