Airport workers, civic groups, and NGOs file a Supreme Court petition to halt the planned increase in airport fees at NAIA.
A COALITION of airport workers, socio-civic organizations, and non-government groups today filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking to suspend the implementation of the raised airport-related fees at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
The broad coalition known as Pagkakaisa ng Users, Stakeholders at Obrero ng NAIA (PUSO ng NAIA) opposed the Manila International Airport Authority’s (MIAA) Revised Administrative Order No. 1, Series of 2024, granting the new private airport operator, the New NAIA Infrastructure Corporation (NNIC), the authority to raise all airport-related fees in the airport.
The petition, filed through the law firm of former congressman Kit Belmonte, challenges the steep increases in airport fees under the controversial public-private partnership (PPP) deal between the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the SMC-led NNIC.
The assailed fees include the domestic passenger service charge, from ₱200 to ₱390 (up by 95%); international passenger service charge: from ₱550 to ₱950 (up by73%), apart from the 300% to 700% hike in fees for airline’s landing, take-off, parking, cargo, and other lease rates for commercial spaces within the NAIA complex.
Romeo R. Sauler, head secretariat of PUSO ng NAIA and a retired aviation employee with 41 years of service, said, “These fees were approved without genuine public consultation, while the government relinquished critical regulatory powers to a private concessionaire. The public deserves a clear explanation, and not to be slapped with skyrocketing fees at the airport.”
The petition was lodged by the Samahan ng mga Manggagawa sa Paliparan ng Pilipinas (SMPP), through its president, Gilbert Bagtas, OFW Wellness Family Association (OFW) through its chairperson Emma Flores, National Confederation of Labor (NCL) through its chair Atty. Ernesto Arellano, Pinoy Aksyon for Governance and Environment (Pinoy Aksyon) through its president Ben Cyrus Ellorin.
Other groups are the Political Officers League of the Philippines (POLphil) through its chairman emeritus Ricardo Serrano, Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) through its national president, Leody De Guzman, Socialista, Inc. (Socialista) through its president Eden Villasin, and the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), through its president, former University of the Philippines – School of Labor and International Relations Dean, Rene Ofroneo.
