NBI joins probe on NAIA shutdown

MANILA, Philippines — A spokesperson for the National Bureau of Investigation has confirmed that the NBI is part of the interagency probe into the New Year’s Day crash of the air traffic management system at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

“The NBI is part of a composite team to conduct an investigation into the airport power outage,” Gisele Garcia-Dumlao said in an interview with The STAR, adding the bureau will look into a possible cybersecurity attack or even sabotage on the country’s premier gateway.

NBI probers have conducted an ocular inspection of the air traffic management center where the outage happened, she added.

The team will be composed of probers from its cybercrime division, digital forensics laboratory and the international airport investigation division.

“The NBI is part of the security and breach cluster to determine if the cause was negligence or intentional,” Dumlao said recently.

An independent probe on the communication, navigation and surveillance/air traffic management (CNS/ATM) system is ongoing, an official of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said.

DOTr Undersecretary for aviation Roberto Lim yesterday said that the technical glitch which led to the total shutting off of the CNS/ATM system on New Year’s Day is being probed.

The investigating body is composed of representatives from the DOTr, Department of Information and Communications Technology, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and the NBI.

Lim said that the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) inhibited from participating in the investigation.

“We want to advise that there is an external investigating body or committee that has been organized and will lead the investigation of this incident,” he said during a House hearing.

“So far, [they] have visited the site. They inspected the relevant parts of the facility, they have interviewed people, testimonies from people directly involved in operating, manning and supervising the CNS/ATM,” he added.

The investigation, Lim said, could take weeks before the body submits its findings and recommendations to the committee.

External audit

The CAAP is looking at having an external audit that will validate the maintenance audit being done by its people on the country’s air traffic management system.

CAAP director general Manuel Antonio Tamayo said one of the lessons they learned from the airport shutdown is to have an “oversight” that will check on the internal audit being done on the CNS/ATM.

“Despite the daily checks, despite the measures that are being followed, our people are not perfect. We have to improve and enhance these procedures,” he said during yesterday’s inquiry of the House committee on transportation headed by Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop.

Tamayo noted while CAAP personnel have a “checklist” that they follow, having an external oversight will “validate if what they did is true and to make sure everything is (done) right.”

“We need to have an external audit, as well, aside from internal audit that our group is doing. There is division that is doing that. We need to enhance this and again, this is a wake-up call for that as we see how vital the equipment is and how it will affect our country,” he added.

According to Tamayo, he had already coordinated with his counterpart in Singapore to find out how they are maintaining their system.

“So I asked them, who provides oversight as far as system is concerned and (they) said there is a Singapore company that provides oversight for them, it is external,” he said.

He pointed out that Singapore’s CNS/ATM is older, dating back to 2010, while the Philippines’ became operational in 2018.

The official is looking at pursuing cooperation with Singapore to possibly tap the services of its external audit.

“We need an external audit. We need to be more vigilant. We will improve system of check and balance,” he added.

During the hearing, Tamayo reiterated CAAP’s first assessment that the shutdown was due to a problem with the uninterruptible power supply “since it was not providing power to the  equipment despite being active and receiving power from the source.”

It was not until the engineers were able to determine that the “probable cause” of the disruption was the circuit breaker after a series of remedial measures and evaluation.

“All our assessment, evaluation and theories as to the probable cause of the disruption only became clear after the situation has normalized,” he said.

Apart from the external audit, the CAAP recommended other improvements in the CNS/ATM system to prevent a recurrence of the technical glitch last Jan. 1.

Tamayo told members of the House transportation committee that CAAP already recommended procurement of a multi-mode fallback system (system upgrade) and to construct an independent back-up CNS/ATM.

“To avoid this kind of circumstance recurring, we recommend the following plans for the CNS/ATM: restore and enhance to its original design before the incident, procurement of the multi-mode fallback system which is considered a systems upgrade,” Tamayo told the committee.

He sought the assistance of the House panel through Congress’ measures that will prevent the technical glitch’s recurrence and ensure safe Philippine skies.

“It is true that any manmade equipment can’t be 100 percent perfect all the time but we want the public to know that we shall do the best we can in order to provide an efficient service to our country and the aviation sector,” he added. – Ralph Edwin Villanueva, Sheila Crisostomo, Rudy Santos