The House Committee on Transportation chaired by Antipolo City 2nd District Representative Romeo Acop held a motu proprio inquiry into the power shutdown incident that caused the cancellation of flights at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) last May 1, 2023.
Acop described the incident as disturbing, noting that a similar outage occurred on New Year’s Day which should have served as a warning.
Department of Transportation (DOTr) Undersecretary Roberto Lim took the opportunity to formally apologize to the House members, passengers, and stakeholders for the inconvenience brought about by the power shutdown.
“On Labor Day, 24 round trip domestic flights of Cebu Pacific were cancelled, affecting 9,391 passengers.”
Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) Acting General Manager (AGM) Bryan Co narrated the timeline of events on Labor Day, which resulted in the cancellation of 24 round trip domestic flights of Cebu Pacific, affecting 9,391 passengers.
Co shared that on May 3, the MIAA met with Meralco, with a subsidiary of the latter conducting physical inspection of electrical systems and assessing nearby substations and generator systems.
According to him, the MIAA, as part of its long-term plans, would design a road map that provides protective redundancies, ensuring continuity, resilience, and stability of airport operations.
The shortage of plastic ID cards for driver’s licenses (DLs) was also discussed at the hearing, with Acop explaining that lawmakers are seeking remedial measures to address any policy gaps in the procurement process of the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
LTO Assistant Secretary Jose Arturo Tugade reported that the agency is re-allocating its available supply of DL cards to address the shortage.
Tugade added that the LTO in the meantime, is authorizing the use of official receipt (OR) as temporary license, which could be in digital format.
The LTO is also cascading the information to all LTO law enforcement offices and LTO-deputized agents to ensure that the OR is recognized as a DL.
“Driver’s licenses that expired in April 2023 will be extended until October 31, 2023.”
He moreover stated that DLs that expired in April 2023 would be extended until October 31, 2023.
Tugade also assured Congress that the LTO would increase the number of buffer DL cards in succeeding years to avoid similar shortages in the future.
