{"id":259947,"date":"2020-06-30T22:28:17","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T02:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=259947"},"modified":"2020-06-30T22:28:17","modified_gmt":"2020-07-01T02:28:17","slug":"duterte-wants-fewer-restos-more-passenger-seats-at-naia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/06\/30\/duterte-wants-fewer-restos-more-passenger-seats-at-naia\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte wants fewer restos, more passenger seats at NAIA"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: Terminal 1 check-in hall in 2015, post-renovation (Photo by Department of Transportation and Communications (Philippines)\/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has urged Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade to remove some restaurants at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to make room for more seats for passengers.<\/p>\n

In a public address late Tuesday night, Duterte said the thought of passengers standing while waiting for their flights has been bothering him \u201cthe whole night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to call the attention of Secretary Tugade. Art,\u00a0alam mo \u2018yang\u00a0<\/em>airport\u00a0na \u2018yan, kung sinong nag-<\/em>design\u00a0niyan g***. Sabihin mo sa kanya, walang upuan. Iilan lang ang upuan<\/em>\u00a0(You know, whoever designed the airport is stupid. Tell him there are only a few seats). And what\u2019s really worse is that\u00a0mayroong<\/em>\u00a0restaurant\u00a0diyan sa labas na malaki<\/em>\u00a0(there\u2019s a huge restaurant just outside).\u2018Di paalisin mo \u2018yung<\/em>\u00a0restaurant,\u00a0lagyan mo ng upuan<\/em>\u00a0(So get rid of the restaurants and add seats),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte said Tugade could start by canceling restaurants\u2019 contracts, saying he no longer wanted to see passengers standing for long periods.<\/p>\n

\u201cArt,\u00a0lagyan mo ng silya lahat \u2018yan. Iyang<\/em>\u00a0restaurant\u00a0diyan kung ma<\/em>-terminate\u00a0mo<\/em>\u00a0contracts (Art, add seats there. The restaurants there, if you could terminate their contracts), terminate them because I need them to seat the passengers waiting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The President also suggested using NAIA Terminal 1 as a place where passengers could wait for their flights, especially if they were delayed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWala na masyadong gumagamit ng<\/em>\u00a0NAIA 1.\u00a0Doon mo na lang pahintayin \u2018yung iba o<\/em>\u00a0they can check in there\u00a0tapos may sakyan man \u2018yan<\/em>\u00a0(The NAIA 1 is not being used as much. That\u2019s where the others can wait or they can check in there since they can get a ride there). When the flight is called for the departure,\u00a0dalhin na lang sila ng mga<\/em>\u00a0(just bring them)\u2026 Art, you provide the bus,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte emphasized the need to ensure that government services are \u201cin parity of the needs of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted that the lack of seats at the airport could be considered as negligence on the part of the national government.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not washing my hands. This is a failure of government — neglect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Duterte also asked Interior Secretary Eduardo A\u00f1o to gather locally stranded individuals (LSIs) camping near NAIA and provide them with food and shelter as they wait for their flights.<\/p>\n

\u201cGen. A\u00f1o, to gather all\u00a0na naghihintay ng pasa — na walang matulugan, walang matirahan at nandiyan sa labas ng<\/em>\u00a0NAIA or whatever sa airport (gather all those waiting, those without a place to sleep, a place to stay and are camping outside NAIA), you will be transported to a place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Reports showed that the passengers were either LSIs who got stuck in Metro Manila due to limited transportation or those who work overseas.<\/p>\n

Passengers were even forced to sleep under an expressway for days while waiting for a chance to get a plane or bus ride.<\/p>\n

The national government has begun assisting LSIs by bringing them to the Villamor Airbase Elementary School and the Philippine State College of Aeronautics to receive food and accommodation as they wait for available transportation.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has urged Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade to remove some restaurants at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":259948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259947"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259949,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259947\/revisions\/259949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}