A member Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives smells something "fishy" with the technical glitch that paralyzed the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on Sunday, Jan. 1.
ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro noted in a statement Monday, Jan. 2 that the glitch---which inconvenienced thousands of passengers--happened just two days after the Department of Transportation (DOTr) floated the possible privatization of the NAIA.
"The supposed 'technical glitch' or power outage that affected 56,000 passengers when 361 flights to and from Manila were either canceled, diverted or delayed on New Year’s Day, should not be the prelude for the privatization of the ," Castro said.
"The timing is quite fishy that on Dec. 30 DOTr Sec. Jaime Bautista said that the Marcos administration is pursuing the privatization of the country's main gateway or the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, supposedly to modernize the airport," she said.
"Two days later nagka-glitch at libo-libong pasahero ang naapektuhan (a glitch occurred and thousands of passengers were affected)," said the teacher-solon.
According to Castro, privatization has traditionally been burdensome to Filipinos as it has translated to higher cost for services.
"Have they not learned their lesson that privatization only means higher fees for consumers? Just look at what happened to water distribution, water rates are so high now that many consumers are in danger of having their water supplies cut," she said.
She claimed that a P25 increase in water rates in the next five years "is in the offing".
In the end, Castro said Filipinos can't be blamed if they get suspicious that the NAIA incident over the weekend was staged in order to expedite such privatization.