In observance of the Holy Week, the Philippine News Agency’s online news service will be off on March 29, Good Friday, and March 30, Black Saturday. Normal operations will resume on March 31, Easter Sunday.

— The Editors

CAAP apologizes over fiasco; to procure CNS/ATM backup system

By Wilnard Bacelonia

January 12, 2023, 6:17 pm

<p><strong>STRANDED</strong>. In this Jan. 1, 2023 photo, thousands of passengers were stranded at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA 3) in Pasay City due to a technical glitch.  The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) apologized for the fiasco during a Senate hearing on Thursday (Jan. 12, 2023). <em>(PNA photo by Avito Dalan)</em> </p>

STRANDED. In this Jan. 1, 2023 photo, thousands of passengers were stranded at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA 3) in Pasay City due to a technical glitch.  The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) apologized for the fiasco during a Senate hearing on Thursday (Jan. 12, 2023). (PNA photo by Avito Dalan) 

MANILA – The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) is planning to acquire a backup system for its Communications, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) to prevent the New Year's Day air traffic glitch from happening again.

This is what CAAP Director General Manuel Antonio Tamayo told the senators Thursday as he appeared before the Committee on Public Services hearing the incident that caused cancellations and delayed flights affecting thousands of passengers.

Tamayo, at the same time, apologized to the public for what happened and said CAAP is taking full responsibility and accountability for the fiasco.

“On behalf of CAAP and DOTr (Department of Transportation), we again extend our sincerest apologies to all those who were inconvenienced and greatly affected by this circumstance which is something we’re not proud of,” he said.

“We take this as a lesson, and we manifest to this honorable committee and fellow Filipinos that we take full responsibility and accountability for what happened,” he added.

And while CAAP is taking full responsibility for what happened, Tamayo said they have initiated measures that would ensure that the existing Air Traffic Management Center (ATMC) has its backup system.

"CAAP has already initiated measures to ensure systems redundancy and upgrade in the existing CNS/ATM. DOTr and CAAP met with the representative of the system supplier on January 5, 2023, to finalize the terms,” Tamayo said.

He added that this may be completed during the first quarter of 2023.

"We commit to see through this ordeal, remain transparent in all our dealings and of service to the Filipinos, and ensure that our skies are safe," he assured.

At a House hearing earlier this week, Tamayo said CAAP has already purchased new uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units for its CNS/ATM as part of measures that would prevent similar incident in the future.

But he clarified that they would not discard the older UPS units that can still be maintained and used as a backup.

Senator Grace Poe, chair of the Senate Committee on Public Services, earlier said the body would investigate the air system glitch, which she said might be a national security problem.

Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Risa Hontiveros, and Ramon Revilla Jr. have also sought an investigation of the same.

"Knowing what and why it happened and seeking accountability is in our best interest. But at the end of the day, our goal is to make sure this will not happen again – not only by upgrading the system or replacing the equipment but also making sure that the institutions running these are empowered and capacitated," Poe said in her opening statement.

"There are many theories being posited but the only real answer will have to come from CAAP as it has all the logs of the incident. It is important to note that CAAP follows the nonpunitive nature of investigations," she added.

According to Tamayo, the CNS/ATM was inaugurated on Jan. 16, 2008, to make the country's airspace safer, minimize flight delays, and improve the overall travel experience by adding 10 more to the previous three radars to cover 100 percent of Philippine airspace.

The facility's procurement started in 2009 and was divided into Packages 1 and 2 which cost about USD10 billion.

"Package 1 is the construction of the Air Traffic Management Center or the ATMC in Pasay City. Package 2 is the construction of all other facilities to complete the CNS/ATM. After 4 years, the CNS/ATM was completed and turned over to CAAP on October 16, 2017, and inaugurated in 2018," Tamayo said.

The UPS of the CNS/ATM, which Tamayo cited to have caused the glitch, de-energized the facility around 9:49 a.m. on Jan. 1 as it detected a flaw in the system.

The CAAP chief clarified that the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center conducted a parallel investigation of the incident on Jan. 3 and found out that the incident is unlikely due to a cyber attack. 

Ejercito lauds air traffic controllers

Senator JV Ejercito, meanwhile, lauded air traffic controllers for implementing contingency plans at the height of the traffic technical glitch that happened on New Year's Day.

During the inquiry conducted by the Senate Committee on Public Services, Senator JV Ejercito took note of the Air Traffic Management Center's (ATMC) efforts to continue its operations when the (CNS/ATM) was down.

"So, the whole time that the CNS was out, we reverted to conventional. Probably, that prevented a disaster or a catastrophe. I’d like to commend our air traffic controllers who were present. Para kang bulag noon (You were like blind that time)," Ejercito said addressing ATMC Manager Anna Joy Papag who acted as the incident commander during the fiasco.

When Ejercito asked Papag how prepared is the ATMC during worst-case scenarios, the latter assured that the country's air traffic controllers are well-trained and they have contingency plans in place.

The first step, she said, was to communicate with the nearest air traffic service.

“We have sequenced them to land using procedural conventional po. The same is true with the traffic within the 70 nautical mile," Papag explained pointing out that since they do not have visibility because of the outage of the radar scopes at the time, they used conventional procedures requiring aircraft to have longer separations to ensure safe operations.

"We have communication with the aircraft, with the pilots. So the clearance we have given them, iyon po ang nag-guide sa kanila papunta sa mga (that guided them going to the) airports, sir. And using also our mobile phones, we were able to get in touch with our counterparts outside of the Philippines, like Hong Kong, Singapore, Udyong Pandang, and others that are adjacent to us, to advise them that we are having trouble with our system and to hold flights going to Manila or accommodate flights that are already within their range," Papag said. (PNA)

 

Comments