Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. filed a bill seeking to rename the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) into the Ferdinand E. Marcos International Airport.
House Bill (HB) No. 610 was filed on June 30, the same day that Marcos’s namesake, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., took his oath of office and assumed the post in Malacañang.
The proposed Act shall be known as "An (Act) Renaming the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to Ferdinand E. Marcos International Airport.”
Teves said it is only right to name the country’s main terminal to Marcos Sr. because it was constructed during his time. The late Marcos served as president from 1965 to 1986.
“It is more appropriate to rename it to the person who has contributed to the idea and execution of the said noble project. This project was done during the time of the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.,” the bill’s explanatory note read.
Teves once called Marcos Sr. “one of the best, if not the best, president” the country ever had, and hoped that Marcos Jr. could be at par or better than his father.
The Manila Bulletin tried to contact Teves, but he has yet to respond as of this posting.
Once the bill is enacted, the renaming will take effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two newspapers of general circulation.
In 1987, during the administration of former President Corazon Aquino, the then Manila International Airport (MIA) was renamed to NAIA after her husband, former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.
Senator Aquino was gunned down on the airport's tarmac in 1983.
There have been calls in the past to revert NAIA’s name to MIA, but never to rename it after the former president, whose controversial 20-year rule has been a point of contention among Filipinos recently.