NAIA escalators to be fixed by June

MANILA, Philippines — The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) assured senators on Tuesday that the sole escalator going down the baggage area at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 will be fixed by June. 

MIAA General Manager Eric Jose Ines told the Senate public services committee that the parts needed to replace the broken escalators at NAIA terminals 3 and 2 have been ordered. "By the end of June, we'll have it fixed," he said.

The Senate public services committee on Tuesday began its first hearing into the state of international and domestic airports in the Philippines. 

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri led the inquiry as subcommittee chairperson — which he said is the first time he has presided over a Senate hearing since the start of the 19th Congress. 

"This is so I can keep tabs on the developments, and so I can help (Tourism Secretary) Frasco regarding our problem with our airports," Zubiri said.

In his opening statement, the Senate president pressed officials about the broken escalator at NAIA Terminal 3, saying that he has already gone on five trips in a span of four months without the escalator functioning.

"My goodness, you go to other airports, Bangkok's airport is so efficiently run...I don't know where to start," Zubiri said.

Ines said that when he took over last January, he found out that a lot of escalators were already out of order. "I had to dig in and found out way back last year these were already declared unserviceable," he added.

The MIAA official said he was informed that the supplier would need six months before they can deliver the spare parts, which made them proceed with purchasing the parts from another supplier.

The parts ordered were "made in China," Ines said, adding that it was "going to work."
 
Ines added that the escalators at Terminal 2 are also not functional.

"The domestic (and) arrival, it's the same things. So I said, let's just fix it, too," Ines added.

Passengers were treated to a swelteringly hot NAIA last April after two cooling towers of Terminal 3 stopped working.

MIAA did not explain what made the cooling towers stop working and said it was a "technical issue."

Ramon Ang’s San Miguel Corporation bagged the concession agreement to rehabilitate NAIA in February and is set to take over its operations and maintenance on or before September.

— Cristina Chi