‘Teka, teka’ 2.0

For someone who has been known to pull her punches even in a fit of fury, Senator Grace Poe could not help but lash out at insidious attempts to leverage the government into inaction. Rarely seen or heard in public to lose her cool, Sen. Poe minced no words on the latest postponement of the government’s bid to privatize the operations and maintenance of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Passenger Terminals 1, 2 and 3.

As the chairman of the Senate committee on public services though, Sen. Poe was visibly exasperated over the latest announcement of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to extend for the nth time the deadline for the submission of bids to the NAIA privatization project. Speaking at our Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum last week, Sen. Poe got dismayed after the DOTr deferred from Dec. 27, 2023 to January 2024 deadline for the public bidding of the NAIA privatization project.

Sen. Poe conceded she could not entirely fault incumbent DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista. Like President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM), she pointed out, Secretary Bautista is just only a year in office and merely inherited these problems from his predecessors at the DOTr. She cited even Secretary Bautista sees the privatization of NAIA could increase its capacity to accommodate more flights and passengers and enhance its security and efficiency while attracting a constant flow of revenue streams.

Sen. Poe pointed out the DOTr infrastructure projects, like those of other government agencies, also suffer delays due to the required vetting process at the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). This is why, she explained, a number of provisions were put in place in the soon-to-become law on Private-Public Partnership (PPP) to cut the red tape at NEDA. Before the 19th Congress adjourned last month, both chambers ratified the PPP bill and it is now being reviewed by Malacañang for signing into law by PBBM, or veto it as the case maybe.

“So I hope that I can hear from them that they finally come up with a deadline this December hopefully,” Sen. Poe pointed out.

“Pati si Presidente napapasubo sa kanila,” Sen. Poe bewailed.

Sen. Poe underscored the urgency