Heads must roll for New Year's Day aviation mess - Ejercito

ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Travelers wait inside the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 in Pasay City on Jan. 4, 2023. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/news/01/10/20230104-naia-airport-passengers-jc-1541.jpg"/><figcaption>Travelers wait inside the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 in Pasay City on Jan. 4, 2023. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — Heads must roll for the New Year&#x27;s Day air traffic fiasco, which saw more than 65,000 passengers affected throughout the country, a senator said Tuesday.</p><p>The Senate Committee on Public Services is set to investigate the aviation mess on Thursday, January 12.</p><p>&quot;I would want to find out first what really happened, if it&#x27;s command responsibility, if it&#x27;s CAAP (Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines) or whatever agency is really remiss or found negligent then some heads really had to roll,&quot; Sen. JV Ejercito told ANC&#x27;s &quot;Headstart&quot;.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/09/23/poe-caap-almost-100-responsible-for-aviation-mess">Poe: CAAP &#x27;almost 100% responsible&#x27; for New Year&#x27;s Day aviation mess</a></li></ul><p>The fiasco, which forced nearly 300 flights to be canceled, delayed or diverted, can never happen again, he stressed.</p><p>&quot;In the aviation industry, there&#x27;s no room for error because this... can be catastrophic,&quot; added Ejercito.</p><p>&quot;The air traffic management system that&#x27;s in charge of communication, navigation and surveillance has to be working 100 percent all the time because it concerns air traffic safety and also national security.&quot;</p><p>Asked if the new transportation chief should be held answerable to the incident, he said: &quot;It&#x27;s also unfair to put the blame already on the new DOTr (Department of Transportation) Secretary Jaime Bautista because he just also assumed.&quot;</p><p>&quot;With that, I really would want to get more information as to who really is responsible.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/04/23/aviation-mess-a-high-level-failure-of-leadership-by-caap-think-tank">Air traffic fiasco a &#x27;high-level failure of leadership&#x27; by CAAP - think tank</a></li></ul><p>Aviation authorities detected a &quot;technical issue&quot; on the morning of January 1 involving the air traffic management center at Manila&#x27;s domestic and international airport.</p><p>The outage hit as many people began returning to the capital for work and school after the Christmas and New Year break.</p><p>Bautista has said the air traffic management center, which controls inbound and outbound flights, &quot;went down&quot; due to a power outage that resulted in the loss of communication, radio, radar and internet. </p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2410875" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><div><strong>— With a report from Agence France-Presse</strong><br/> </div>

Heads must roll for the New Year's Day air traffic fiasco, which saw more than 65,000 passengers affected throughout the country, a senator said.

Heads must roll for New Year's Day aviation mess - Ejercito | ABS-CBN

Halalan 2025

Entertainment

News

Metro.Style

Sports

More

Traffic

Horoscope

News

Heads must roll for New Year's Day aviation mess - Ejercito

Heads must roll for New Year's Day aviation mess - Ejercito

ABS-CBN News

Published Jan 10, 2023 12:23 PM PHT

|

Updated Jan 10, 2023 12:32 PM PHT

Read More:

ANC

ANC Promo

ANC Top

ANC Exclusive

ANC Headstart

JV Ejercito

NAIA

Ninoy Aquino International Airport

DOTr

Department of Transportation

ABS-CBN is the leading media and entertainment company in the Philippines, offering quality content across TV, radio, digital, and film. Committed to public service and promoting Filipino values, ABS-CBN continues to inspire and connect audiences worldwide.

Corporate

Investors

Governance

International Distribution

Corporate

Governance

Investors

International Distribution

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

AI Policy

Terms of Service

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.