BI ensures uninterrupted service at all airports

SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian called on airport authorities to ensure the safety and convenience of thousands of passengers stranded or affected by a technical navigation issue, including a power outage situation, that caused the cancellation and diversion of nearly 300 incoming and outgoing flights on the first day of the year.

“Airport authorities must attend to the needs of stranded passengers at all affected airports and ensure their safety and convenience until normal airport operations are restored. The public, particularly affected passengers, should also be appraised of the latest situation and should be made aware of new flight schedules,” he emphasized.

Airport authorities should be made accountable for this incident,” he added, noting hordes of airport passengers were stranded not just at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) but also at various points of departure within and outside the country.

While the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) has said that flight operations have already been partially restored as of 4:00 p.m on January 1, the incident was likely to cause a “domino effect” and adversely affect flights scheduled in the next few hours, Gatchalian said.

“It is unfortunate to see a crisis-like situation such as this at NAIA at a time when demand for air travel in the country has just been restored to normal levels following the lifting of travel restrictions which were imposed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Airport operations have an impact beyond managing incoming and outgoing flights. The government must do everything in its power to ensure that this doesn’t happen again given the impact it would have on affected passengers and the negative impression that it would have on our foreign visitors,” the senator stressed.

“Nakakalungkot ang pangyayaring ito sa unang araw ng taon para sa marami nating kababayan at mga bisita na naapektuhan ng insidente,” he ended.

‘Binay: Airport failure has big impact on PH tourism’

Senator Nancy Binay on Monday expressed concern over the recent air traffic system glitch at NAIA terminals that crippled international and domestic flight operations on Sunday.

“Una sa lahat, buti na lamang at walang nangyaring anumang aksidente… but what happened last Sunday is scary and terrifying,” Binay, who chairs the Senate Committee on Tourism said, adding that “anyone who has plans of traveling to the Philippines this year may have second thoughts of visiting.”

The Philippines will host several international events in 2023, including the much-awaited 2023 FIBA World Cup.

“As we open up our tourism, hindi na dapat maulit ang nangyari. Sadly, we just hogged the headlines in every news channel and newspaper abroad,” Binay said.

She further said that the country needs to guarantee a unique, high-value experience to our foreign guests and urged the government to find solutions and fix the country’s broken public transport system.

“That’s why I am appealing to the DBM to help in sourcing the needed funds for CAAP para maumpisahan na ang pag-upgrade at pag-augment ng mga system at equipment sa ating mga airport,” she said.

The senator added that the incident had left a big setback in the government’s effort to promote the Philippines.

“Airport service quality and passenger satisfaction have a great impact on Philippine tourism. Yung nangyari sa NAIA makes it hard for us to promote traveling to the Philippines when a service attribute has failed. I hope we learn something from this experience and past experiences and have [a] well-trained airport and airline personnel ready to handle these kinds of extraordinary cases, and manage [a] certain amount of chaos to temper an unpleasant situation,” Binay said.

The senator added that it is about time to conduct a full audit of all navigational and communications equipment installed in all airports in the country.

According to Binay, the air navigation glitch that stranded thousands of holiday travelers are quite bothersome and concerning. The said technical glitch has resulted in the loss of power supply, critical navigational communications, radar, radio, and Internet, which has shut down Philippine air space for hours.

“Imagine, several hours of inconvenience and unproductive waiting for passengers… inconvenience to PWDs and senior citizens, losses to tourism and business. This is not the first time that this [has] occurred – there were similar incidents that happened in 2016 and 2018. Our airports, being critical facilities, should have a reliable backup system to handle these kinds of extraordinary and emergency situations. What happened on Sunday clearly demonstrates how vulnerable we are, and with either a hardware or software glitch, we can all be crippled,” Binay pointed out.

She added that the DOTR, OTS, CAAP, MIAA, MCIAA, and LIPAD management likewise need to start identifying current and potential hazards related to airport operations.

“Sana matulungan ng DBM si DOTr Sec. Bautista na mahanapan ng pondo ang kailangang upgrade at equipment ng CAAP for this year. Kailangan na natin itong maumpisahan ngayong taon, kaya importante na makahanap ang Executive Department ng funding source para agad na nating mabigyan ng solusyon ito,” Binay said.

‘BI chief assures unhampered operations at airports’

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) assured the public that it has uninterrupted service at NAIA and other international airports.

“Following the cancellation of flights due to the technical issues experienced at the airports, we expect a huge number of arriving and departing passengers in the next few days,” said BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco.

“This adds to the already high number of travelers due to the holidays,” he added.

Tansingco assured the public that BI services at the airport remain unhampered and that sufficient personnel has been deployed at the country’s airports.

BI Port Operations Division Chief Atty. Carlos Capulong added that while lines are expected due to the high volume of passengers both in the Philippines and in other countries, BI officers can process documents expeditiously.

“We have all hands on deck during this critical period,” said Capulong. “We have likewise instructed airport terminal heads to ensure all counters are manned,” he added.

Capulong also encouraged Filipinos to use the BI’s electronic gates, which could lessen processing time to as low as 8 seconds per passenger.

The BI reported processing a total of 12,304 arrivals on January 1, as compared to the 32,101 arrivals on New Year’s Eve.

On the other hand, a total of 19,010 departures were recorded for the New Year celebration, while 24,405 were processed on December 31.

According to DOTr (Department of Transportation), NAIA resumed partial operations at 4 p.m., and normal operations resumed at 5:50 p.m. on Sunday (January 1.). By PS Jun M Sarmiento, Camille P. Balagtas, Jun I. Legaspi, & Hector Lawas