The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) has opened its upgraded Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) Lounge at Terminal 1, the airport authority announced on Monday.

According to NAIA, the renovated lounge now offers complimentary food and drinks, rest areas, charging stations, and a baggage storage area. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Terminal 1 facility is the second lounge established under the New NAIA Infrastructure Corporation (NNIC), following the opening of a similar lounge at Terminal 3 in July 2024. The earlier facility has already served more than 706,000 OFWs.

The Terminal 1 OFW Lounge was inaugurated on Monday by First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, NNIC President Ramon Ang, Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac, and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Administrator Patricia Yvonne Caunan.

Caunan had earlier expressed dissatisfaction with the previous Terminal 1 lounge during a media tour of the Terminal 3 lounge in September. She recalled that the facility did not meet expectations of comfort and care for migrant workers.

“I visited it [OFW Lounge at Terminal] less than two weeks after I was appointed [as OWWA Administrator], and I’ll be very honest… I was disappointed. It was not for OFWs; it was small, not well-maintained, and the food was limited, so we decided to close the Terminal 1 lounge,” she said.