SMC to provide bigger OFW lounge at NAIA-3

MANILA, Philippines — A bigger lounge for departing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) will be provided by the San Miguel Corp. (SMC) consortium at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.

The OFW lounge can accommodate around 200 OFWs daily and will be operational by the end of June, Speaker Martin Romualdez said during his site visit at the NAIA on Tuesday.

Romualdez was accompanied by Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales and Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe.

“The SMC wanted to allocate a bigger space because it felt that the original site was small. So we can expect better operations at the NAIA,” Romualdez said.

He thanked SMC president and chief executive officer Ramon Ang for providing a larger space for OFWs at the airport.

The OFW lounge is a pet project of Romualdez in partnership with the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration.

SMC, RMM Asian Logistics Inc., RLW Aviation Development Inc. and Incheon International Airport Corp. bagged the P170.6-billion public-private partnership project for the rehabilitation the country’s main gateway.

As the winning bidder, the SMC-led group is expected to improve the NAIA complex, including facilities such as the runway, taxiway, ramp areas and firefighting facility.

It is also expected to increase the airport’s annual passenger capacity from 32 million to 60 million.