The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) didn't set any timetable for the completion of the "forensic investigation" on the Communications, Navigation and Surveillance Systems for Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
This was confirmed by CAAP Director General Manuel Antonio Tamayo Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 10 during the briefing held by the House Committee on Transportation chaired by Antipolo 2nd district Rep. Romeo Acop.
Tamayo made the revelation while he was being questioned by Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas on the disastrous NAIA flight cancellations last Jan. 1.
But despite the absence of a timetable, Tamayo assured Brosas that CAAP would coordinate with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) so it may come up with its results of the probe "as soon as possible".
The DICT is the lead agency on the probe on the CNS/ATM, which allegedly glitched on Jan. 1 thereby triggering a power outage at NAIA. A total of 414 flights were cancelled as result.
Tamayo said during the House briefing that a circuit breaker of the CNS/ATM tripped, causing the outage. The exact reason for the trip is still unknown.
Although CAAP is responsible for the maintenance of the critical system, it is not permitted to physically check the circuit breaker, Tamayo said. Only DICT can do that.
Riding on the results of the DICT probe is the compensation of the affected passengers--at least 65,000--on that day.
Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla, who physically attended the briefing like Tamayo, couldn't put a number on the total damages that the passengers could claim.
"Medyo mailap po ito, pinipilit po naming magkaroon ng reference values. Pero tama po kayo at malaki ang mga perwisyo dahil yung iba, yung employment nila was put in jeopardy (This is hard to determine, we're trying to get reference values. But you're correct in saying that it caused a huge trouble since the employment of some was put in jeopardy)," Arcilla said during the interpellation of ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro.
"Sa pananaw po ng airline ito ay force majeure situation. At globally, universally, wala pong pananagutan yung mga airlines sa damages na yun (In the airline's view, this is a force majeure situation. At globally and universally, the airlines have no responsibility with those damages)," he said.
As to the question of whether or not the government can claim force majeure on the NAIA incident, Arcilla said: "The matter of still under investigation, a forensic investigation by a team of experts, inter-agency po ito (this is an inter-agency body)."
"Doon pa lang po makikita kung magkakaroon ng findings of negligence or bad faith at dyan po mag-aarise yung liability niya or responsibility ng gobyerno (If is only then that we can get the findings of negligence or bad faith, or the liability or responsibility of government)," he added.
"Sa force majeure po, ang karapatan ng isang pasahero ay refund po lamang, mas mabigat yung rebooking (Under a force majeure, a passenger is only entitled to a refund, since rebooking is more costly)," Arcilla said.