Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista denied calling the air traffic management system of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) outdated after it experienced a glitch that led to the cancellation of flights and inconvenienced over 60,000 passengers on January 1.

His reply was in response to a question by ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro.

“I didn’t say that the equipment is outdated because the equipment is working. It just so happened that there was a technical problem. Although I mentioned that this equipment is in its mid-life. Because as explained earlier, the construction started in 2010. It’s a 2010 technology,” Bautista said during a House panel hearing.

“And as I have discussed with the manufacturer, I got the term mid-life from them. I just adopted the statement from the manufacturer that there’s a need to really improve or update it,” he added.

Castro said if the equipment was in its midlife, there should be safety measures in place before its lifespan ends

Bautista said they are conducting studies on having a backup system or a replacement.

“As early as September, we are studying the possibility of having a back-up system or a new system…It’s one of our priority projects for 2023,” Bautista told the panel.

CAAP’s Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) was a P10.8 billion project funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and was completed in 2017.

It was inaugurated on January 16, 2018, under former President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration. Jaspearl Tan/DMS