The camp of leading presidential candidate Grace Poe speaks up about the 5-hour outage at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 that occurred on Saturday April 3, 2016 until the following the day. The incident has caused chaos to thousands of travelers.
According to Inquirer, the power outage lasted five hours from Sunday at around 8:30 pm until 2:00 am the next day. It has affected at least 15, 000 passengers from domestic and international flights, and more than 100 flights have been delayed and cancelled.
Reacting on the issue, the senator’s camp released their statement, calling the incident as a “national embarassment.” Her spokesperson, Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian said that the outage proves the incompetence of Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) which is headed by Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya.
“The five-hour power outage last night in NAIA 3 is once again another embarrassment for the country. The power outage clearly manifests the incompetence in the airport authority and DOTC, airport facilities management. Our people deserve better,” Inquirer quoted him.
Rex Gatchalian also asked the DOTC to “shape up.” He said that the taxes and airport fees paid by Filipinos should be used to provide services to the locals and foreign passengers.
“The Filipino flying public’s taxes and airport fees must be put to good use to avoid such incidents from happening again. Sen. Poe is calling on DOTC and airport officials to shape up and deliver the services our people deserve,” he added.
It was reported that the outage was due to Meralco’s maintenance. Meanwhile, The Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) has already apologized to the passengers, noting that they are doing everything to make sure that the incident will not be repeated.
People already expect less from NAIA and Abaya but come on,this is just a disgrace! How can an airport have no electricity for 5 hours? Nakakahiya sa mga foreigners. This just shows that indeed our govt is incompetent.