MIAA interim head named after GM’s suspension

THE Department of Transportation designated Bryan Andersen C. Co, the senior assistant general manager of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), as the officer-in-charge in place of General Manager (GM) Cesar M. Chiong, who was placed in preventive suspension.

Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista said the assignment will last until the lifting of Mr. Chiong’s suspension.

“The suspension of Mr. Chiong will last up to six months. But we are working with our legal team; we are planning to seek a motion to lift. We are given, I think, 15 days to file a motion to lift the suspension,” Mr. Bautista told TeleRadyo.

Mr. Bautista said that he was not aware of any cases filed against the two MIAA officers.

“Wala kaming alam na ganyang reklamo. Even sila Mr. Chiong and Irene Monsalbo, wala rin silang alam na mayroong kasong na-i-file against them (We are not aware of any complaints. Even Mr. Chiong and Ms. Montalbo were not aware that there were cases filed against them),” he said referring to MIAA Acting Assistant General Manager for Finance and Administration Irene P. Montalbo.

“Kaya nga nagulat kami noong natanggap namin ang order na meron palang anonymous group na nag-file ng kaso against them (We were surprised when we received an order indicating that an anonymous group had filed a case against them),” he added.

According to the order, “sworn statements gathered from the reassigned employees (r)evealed that they were neither informed of the reason for their reassignment nor did they have pending administrative complaints.” The order, dated April 28, takes effect after the respondent receives it.

In a briefing on Wednesday, Mr. Co said an officer-in-charge has been designated for the finance and administration department. 

“The newly designated officer-in-charge for finance and administration is Miriam O. Ilarde,” Mr. Co said.

Ms. Ilarde is the acting division manager for the collection division of MIAA’s finance department.

Meanwhile, Mr. Co said: “I think it will be a very seamless transition … the plans and programs will continue to move forward.”

Among these projects are the Schedule and Terminal Assignment Rationalization program and other airport efficiency initiatives that the MIAA has in the pipeline.

AIRSPACE SHUTDOWN
Mr. Co said that the MIAA expects that 130 flights could be affected by the corrective maintenance activity at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on May 17.

“Based on the estimate passenger load, it will affect around 20,000 passengers,” Mr. Co said.

“I would say more than 50% will be domestic. And there will be a number of international flights because we do have international flights that leave at midnight, especially those going to South Korea or the Middle East. But this (maintenance window) has the least impact… as far as air operations in the Philippines are concerned,” he added.

In an advisory, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said that it will be conducting maintenance at the Philippine Air Traffic Management Center on May 3 from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. and on May 17 from 12 midnight to 6 a.m. in all CAAP-operated commercial airports nationwide.

Maintenance work on the automatic voltage regulator (AVR) today was completed at around 3:27 a.m. without disruption, CAAP said.

“Early this morning, the AVR was also replaced without any impact on flight operations. In fact, the NOTAM (notice to airmen) was supposed to be from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m., but the work was done by the CAAP within 30 minutes … and there was no impact to flight operations in the Philippine flight information region for today,” Mr. Co said. — Justine Irish D. Tabile