Department of Transportation Secretary Jaime J. Bautista confirmed on Monday the external body tasked to investigate the apparent failure of the Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management or CNS/ATM system at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport will submit its findings to the Senate Committee on Public Services on 15 February.
“We have organized an investigating team. We have given ourselves a deadline of 15 February to come up with the final findings. So let’s wait for 15 February,” Bautista said on the sidelines of the inspection of senators at the CNS/ATM facilities on Monday.
The investigating body is composed of the Department of Transportation, Department of Information and Communications Technology, Cybercrime Investigation, and Coordinating Center, National Bureau of Investigation, and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines has been inhibited from participating in the investigation.
Meantime, Senator Grace Poe — who chairs the Senate Committee on Public Services — conveyed the senators’ satisfaction with the ongoing investigation. Nonetheless, she reiterated that the system needs an upgrade.
Poe and Bautista were joined by Senate President Miguel Zubiri, Senators JV Ejercito, Joel Villanueva and Raffy Tulfo during Monday’s inspection.
The CNS/ATM Systems provide various computer-aided safety measures in Air Traffic Control or ATC. It enhances safety by reducing controller or pilot workloads and human errors.
The system is a P10.8-billion project financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency and completed in October 2017. The system was inaugurated on 16 January 2018 and commenced comprehensive operations on 26 July 2019.
To ensure that the recent airport debacle will not happen again, DoTr plans to build a backup air traffic management system to guarantee uninterrupted airport operations.