A passenger group has slammed the move of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to revoke the original proponent status (OPS) given to a private contractor in their proposal to upgrade and transform the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
The Passenger Forum (TPF) convenor Primo Morillo criticized the timing of the revocation amid the pandemic and despite the earlier promises made by President Duterte to rehabilitate the country's main international gateway.
"It is like the government does not need help in rehabilitating the country’s primary international gateway. It seems like we don't have to prepare once we bounce back from the current crisis we are in right now," Morillo said in a statement on Wednesday.
Morillo added that the government seemed to not appreciate the "perfect timing" to rehabilitate the airport now while airline passenger volume is at its lowest in years.
The commuter network leader has been pushing the administration to transform NAIA, which has been tagged as the worst airport in the world, now while there is less traffic due to the current health crisis.
"What will happen now to the promise of the President that he will make sure NAIA will be rehabilitated? Will the private proponent also explain if they were able to submit all the necessary requirements for this to proceed?" he added.
"A lot of things require explanation right now. But one thing is clear, NAIA needs to be rehabilitated and we should not wait until the normal volume of passengers returns," Morillo emphasized.
The MIAA on Tuesday informed engineering and infrastructure firms Megawide and GMR Infrastructure of the revocation of their OPS for its P109 billion proposal to rehabilitate NAIA.
In a statement, Megawide-GMR called the government's move "a devastating blow against progress" at a time of economic crisis.
The proponent added that it will immediately file a motion for reconsideration for its proposal, adding that "there are no justifiable grounds to deny the Filipino people a transformed NAIA."