Long wait for Manila airport
It’s not just collapsing ceilings that are bedeviling Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. President Arroyo, after enumerating in her State of the Nation Address the other day a long list of airstrips being built and airports being expanded or renovated nationwide, said the NAIA-3 could collapse in a powerful earthquake. She invoked public safety as the top consideration in opening the terminal, but fell short of saying outright that the yearend deadline she gave for the opening of the facility would no longer be met.Collapsing ceilings can be blamed on deterioration from non-use. On the other hand, a facility that cannot withstand the earthquakes that periodically strike this archipelago, which lies along the quake-prone Ring of Fire, suffers from structural defects — something that can be blamed on the builder. The original Philippine white elephant, the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, was abandoned after experts warned that it was built near an earthquake fault. The Philippine government at least ran after Westinghouse, which built the plant. But Philippine officials accused of receiving multimillion-dollar kickbacks for the project, led by dictator Ferdinand Marcos, went unpunished.
If the NAIA-3 suffers from structural defects that could endanger public safety, the government should also go after those responsible for the project. Earlier reports said it could take up to P2 billion to make the NAIA-3 operational. The scandal over the project has already damaged the image of the Philippines, especially in Europe, as an investment destination. The country is also suffering from the failure to open a badly needed new airport terminal while other Asian countries are racing to build larger and more modern airports.
The Philippines has neither the means nor the political will to build a bigger premier airport outside Metro Manila. But it can show the world that it is doing something to penalize those behind the construction of yet another white elephant. If we can’t have a new airport terminal, we should at least see certain individuals behind bars. But who should be indicted? This project was cancelled because it was supposed to be onerous. The contractor is challenging this and has taken the Philippine government to an international arbitration court. The mess is unlikely to be untangled any time soon. Juan de la Cruz has a long wait ahead for a new airport terminal.
