Senate panel to dig deeper into PH airspace shutdown –Poe

A day after the Senate public services committee launched its investigation into the New Year’s Day airspace shutdown in the Philippines, Senator Grace Poe said it is not yet passing judgment on the transportation officials as the probe is yet to be completed.

“Based on our hearing, it was clear that while CAAP believes it has the people and the equipment in place, it has come up short in addressing an incident that started with an apparatus failure,” Poe, chairperson of the Senate panel, said in a text message.

“But we are not passing judgment yet as we have yet to conclude the Senate probe,” she added.

The lawmaker said the thrust forward is to take proactive steps to the country’s air traffic system.

This would entail putting necessary personnel and systems to deal with any possible glitches before they arise, she added.

“We must not be satisfied with troubleshooting or band-aid solutions to even the tiniest smoke because the safety of our air passengers is at stake,” said Poe.

She reiterated the need for a third party maintenance provider as the panel learned on Thursday that the warranty for the Communication, Navigation and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) system maintenance expired in 2020.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) told the Senate committee on Thursday that they are currently negotiating with French firm Thales Group—one of the companies that provided the Philippines its CNS/ATM system–to serve as their third-party maintenance provider.

The negotiations involve almost a billion worth of unsettled claims due to the delays in the implementation of the CNS/ATM project.

In a separate text message, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said the Senate will wait for the result of the forensic investigation to give them a clearer picture of what had happened when the equipment supposedly malfunctioned.

“As of now, they are giving general statements that have opened more questions such as the follow up maintenance checks which should have been done by the manufacturer of the equipment themselves aside from our own CAAP personnel alone,” Zubiri said.

“Therefore, let us await the results of the forensic report to paint a clear picture whether it was human error, meaning negligence or incompetence or whether it was a system or equipment failure or even sabotage as that cannot be ruled out as well,” the Senate chief said.

Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva also echoed Zubiri and Poe’s sentiments, saying the explanation of CAAP as well as the Department of Transportation “was lacking and did not give us clarity on what really transpired and assurance that a similar incident will not happen again.”

He then raised the need to study the possible privatization of the airport operations to improve the overall performance of the country.

During the hearing Thursday, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista confirmed that the government is planning to privatize the operations of the Manila International Airport Authority.

He said they are working with the Asian Development Bank and the Public-Private Partnership Center for the finalization of the terms of reference which is expected by the end of first quarter of 2023. 

Before suspending the first hearing on the airspace shutdown, Poe appealed to the employees of CAAP to share with senators any information that may shed light on the incident.

Poe, along with Senators Risa Hontiveros and Robin Padilla, noticed that the root cause of the incident has yet to be determined despite the hours-long hearing.

“Sa hinaba-haba ng ating diskusyon ngayon, hindi niyo pa rin masabi ano ba ang naging dahilan bakit nangyari ‘yon at hindi pa rin natin matukoy talaga kung ano talaga ang nangyari,” Poe said.

For her part, Hontiveros said there will be no moving forward if the main cause of the incident is not determined.

“Baka akala po natin na mas maliit na bagay [ito] pero napaka-importante, in fact, [this] instigated this hearing. Kailangan po sabihin ng DOTr at ng CAAP, ‘di lang sa Senado [kundi] sa buong publiko ano ang nangayari talaga–kumpleto at makatotohanan– noong January 1,” Hontiveros said.

Philippine airspace effectively closed on New Year’s Day due to technical issues at the CAAP’s Philippine Air Traffic Management Center (ATMC).

At least 282 flights were canceled, diverted, or delayed, and some 56,000 passengers at NAIA were affected.—LDF, GMA Integrated News

Senate panel to dig deeper into PH airspace shutdown –Poe
Source: Filipino Viral News PH