The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) was hit with its third power outage in six months, leaving thousands of passengers stuck in Manila on Friday, June 9.
Disgruntled passengers had to endure the scorching heat as they awaited updated on delayed flights after power went out in NAIA Terminal 3 at around 12:15 p.m. It was restored at 1:29 p.m.
This is already the third time that a power glitch affected NAIA’s operations this year. The first incident occurred on January 1, which left over 50,000 people stranded due to a faulty circuit breaker that shut down the country’s entire airspace. Another power glitch happened on May 1.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista has claimed he could have been sabotaged during the past two incidents.
PANOORIN: Naipon na ang mga pasaherong naghihintay sa entrance ng immigration counters ng NAIA terminal 3 dahil sa power interruption na nagsimula tanghali ngayong Biyernes, June 9. | via @jacquemanabat pic.twitter.com/BqAVkXmmHj
— ABS-CBN News (@ABSCBNNews) June 9, 2023
Power had been restored after 30 minutes, which led to long lines at Immigration counters.
Netizens are disappointed but not surprised.
“These power outages are done on purpose and always on peak travel dates,” one said.
“Sinasadya na yan para may reason for privatization!,” another Twitter user added.
at this point, you can almost surmise that they're doing this on purpose to justify the idea of privatization
they say 141B is needed to rehabilitate the country's main international airports, and siyempre ang sasabihin walang pondo
but, there's someone who owes 203B, right?
— thirtysomethinglarrie has faith in the future (@30smthnglarrie) June 9, 2023
Before pandemic, I traveled internationally for 3-4 times a year for 10 consecutive years and I never experience power outage ever. It is now golden era indeed! 😎
— Phillip Templo Jr. (@thejourneymate) June 9, 2023