Department of Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon addressed the recent power outage at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in a press conference on 10 March, outlining the agency’s plans to improve airport services.

On Sunday, all three terminals of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) experienced power interruptions — Terminal 1 at 7:40 a.m. (restored at 7:45 AM), Terminal 2 at 7:24 AM (restored at 7:48 AM), and Terminal 3 at 8 a.m. (restored at 8:01 AM).

Calling the more than five-minute outage unacceptable, Dizon stressed the need for immediate solutions to prevent similar incidents in the future.

“Dapat kapag nagkaroon ng power outage, the generator has to kick in immediately. Dapat ‘yan walang isang minuto. So unacceptable yung five minutes, lalo na yung sa Terminal 2 na mahigit 20 minutos,” he said.

(When a power outage occurs, the generator has to kick in immediately. It should take less than a minute. So, a five-minute delay is unacceptable, especially in Terminal 2, where it took more than 20 minutes.)

Dizon acknowledged the ongoing technical issues at NAIA, noting that many of the airport’s systems are outdated. While resolving these problems will take time, he emphasized that the operator must meet the standards set in the privatization agreement for airport operations.