The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Rose de la Cruz
With the takeover last Sept. 14 by the New NAIA International Corp., the new operator of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport of the San Miguel Corp. group, around 844 plantilla position holders of the Manila International Airport Authority, would lose their jobs and face a bleak Christmas this year.
Unlike government offices being abolished where employees can find padrinos to get another job more easily, applying in a private company is tougher and would need higher and newer skills to land the job. Padrino system, though not entirely absent in privately-owned companies, would be harder to find and not a sure guarantee of landing one.
The MIAA, former operator of NAIA, on Tuesday announced the abolition of these positions following the airport’s privatization.
Most of these were the positions of those who joined the new management, the New NAIA Infrastructure Corp. (NNIC), which took over operations on Sept. 14.
The MIAA, now a regulator, is still waiting for the Governance Commission for GOCCs’ (GCG) approval of the proposed organizational structure.
Head executive assistant Chris Bendijo said the MIAA had requested 1,463 positions.
On whether it expects GCG’s answer, Bendijo told the Philippines News Agency that “we have no way of determining that but GCG has committed to expedite their review of the restructuring plan.”
Bendijo added that before the airport’s privatization, the MIAA had 1,984 plantilla posts approved by the Department of Budget and Management.
MIAA said the proposed structure would help streamline operations and strengthen its regulatory capacity, ensuring that it could effectively monitor the progress and development of NAIA.
The MIAA, in a press release, said the government is looking forward to NNIC’s development plan for NAIA.
The public-private partnership, it said, would allow the MIAA to maintain its focus “on fulfilling critical governmental functions, ensuring that the government can continue to protect its interests both domestically and internationally.”
MIAA General Manager Eric Ines called on the remaining employees to help fulfill MIAA’s role as a regulator.
“Tulungan niyo sana po ako, hinihingi ko ang inyong tulong. Paghati-hatian natin yung ating gagawin sapagkat hindi namin kakayanin kung iilan lang tayo. So, each and every one is really responsible to our new role,” Ines said.
The MIAA finished on Tuesday a two-day workshop with the Asian Development Bank.
The sessions aimed to “acquaint MIAA representatives with the obligations and difficulties that come with their new position as regulators and to establish the framework for MIAA’s smooth transition to its new regulatory function,” it said.