CAAP buys 2 UPS to prevent another air traffic management system breakdown

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) has purchased two uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to prevent another air traffic management system malfunction that happened on New Year’s Day and resulted in Philippine airspace shutdown.

“We evaluated the condition of our two UPS, and one of the UPS had a problem on the blower but other than that, it is functioning as it should be. The other UPS had no defects at all. Hindi po UPS ang may diperensya. It was the circuit breaker,” CAAP acting director general Manuel Antonio Tamayo said during the briefing with the House transportation committee.

“But we did emergency procurement of two additional UPS because our current UPS is already mid-life. The UPS life is between five to 10 years. Our position is that, why wait seven to 10 years when this is vital equipment, so we procured two right away as a measure to prevent this [New Year’s day Philippine airspace shutdown] from happening again,” he added.

It can be recalled that the UPS did not function during the shutdown of Philippine airspace for about seven hours.

“We know it is the circuit breaker, but we don’t know what caused the circuit breaker to fail. We are not authorized to open the circuit breaker. If we find that it is not functioning, then we will replace it as we should,” Tamayo said.

“Our internal investigation, including forensic investigation and external investigation by various agencies, is ongoing,” he added.

Tamayo, however, maintained that CAAP has enough competent personnel running the air traffic management system.

“We do have qualified electrical engineers. They are not only qualified, but are experienced technicians, they are trained to operate Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) System po,” he added.

Civil Aviation Board Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla, for his part, noted that the amount of financial compensation or any other form of remuneration for the over 56,000 passengers affected by grounded flights at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport last January 1 is yet to be determined pending final results of the probe.

“The airline losses are at P100 million, but we have to admit the amount [of losses] on the part of individuals affected, mailap po ito [compensation amount]. We are trying hard to have reference values kasi malaking perwisyo po ito, there are those whose employment were put in jeopardy,” he said.

“On the part of airlines, it is a force majeure situation (act of God) so they are not responsible aside from the APBR (Air Passenger Bill of Rights) benefits. But force majeure is also relative to the person invoking it. How about the government’s liability? It is still under forensic investigation, whether there is negligence or bad faith [among government officials], and it is from these that the liability and responsibility of the government will arise," he added.

House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro was quick to interject that negligence on the part of the government is undeniable in the situation.

“This is not force majeure. Based on the presentation of CAAP and the DOTR (Department of Transportation), there is negligence, and there should be accountability to the passengers in the form of financial compensation or whatever compensation may be,” she added.—AOL, GMA Integrated News