ON the heels of the eight-hour power outage that hit Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on Labor Day, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) yesterday extended assistance to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) whose flights have been delayed.
The May 1 brownout affected more than 9,000 passengers whose flights, both domestic and international, were either cancelled or delayed.
In a social media post, the DMW said it has provided food packs and drinks to the stranded workers.
“Free hotel accommodations will also be provided to OFWs still waiting for their rebooked flights,” DMW also said.
Similarly, the agency said it will revise the workers’ Overseas Employment Certificates (OECs), if needed. “We are manually fixing OECs to make sure that it won’t affect their scheduled departure,” said DMW.
The department said it will continue to extend assistance to outbound OFWs as long as necessary, saying that “OFWs may approach the DMW Assistance Center in the airport so we can assist you.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian pushed for upgrades in NAIA’s facilities to prevent the occurrence of similar incidents in the future.
“Authorities have identified that NAIA Terminal 3’s main circuit breaker caused the May 1 power outage at the terminal, which is an internal issue. Officials of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport should immediately conduct an audit of all its facilities, including an electrical audit, and make the necessary upgrade if need be,” Gatchalian said.
Last January 1, the NAIA also experienced a power outage supposed caused by a technical glitch that forced its Air Traffic Navigation System to go offline.
Gatchalian said the Labor Day incident was “unacceptable” since transportation and airport authorities should have learned their lesson from the New Year’s Day incident.
“We should have learned our lessons from the New Year incident and appropriate redundancy measures should have been put into place to avoid a repeat of such incident,” he added.
He also urged the Manila International Airport Authority, Department of Transportation, and airline companies to make sure that passenger rights, including the right to compensation and amenities, are observed and adhered to each time such incidents take place.
“They must always attend to the needs of stranded passengers and ensure their safety and convenience until normal airport operations are restored. Authorities should ensure that the public, particularly affected passengers, are apprised of the latest situation and are given appropriate notice of any new flight schedule at all times,” he also said.
He said such incident puts the country in a bad light which will have an adverse effect on the economy, adding that concerned agencies should put their acts together so it will not happen again. — With Raymond Africa
