Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the country needs a new backup air traffic management (ATM) system that is modernized following the airspace shutdown due to technical failure during New Year’s day.

In an interview with DZRH’s Damdaming Bayan on Wednesday, Bautista said they presented the backup system as one of their priority projects for 2023 during a cabinet meeting in October last year.

“Sabi nga namin kung gagawin natin ito, we should locate it in another place which is a little bit further from where the present system is located. Para kung sakali magkaroon ng aberya, lindol, o sunog, malayo itong system na ito at magagamit natin ka agad,” he said.

(We said if we are really going to do this, we should locate it in another place which is a little bit further from where the present system is located. So that, in times of disturbance, earthquake, or fire, the system is far away and can be used immediately.)

Bautista cited that other countries also practice having a backup system.

Contrary to the earlier remarks of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) that the ATM system is old, Bautista claimed that it is not outdated.

“It is working. Tatakbo pa naman ng matagal iyan. Meron naman upgrades na pwedeng gawin. Ang gusto lang talaga namin ay ang backup and at the same time, the backup is more modern,” he added.

(It is working. It will run for a long time. There are upgrades that can be done. What we are pushing for is a backup that is more modern.)

But he noted that this proposed new backup may take some more time before it can become fully operational.

Sabotage or a pure technical issue?

Bautista said they think the issue occurred due to technical problems.

He added that this is the first time it happened since the ATM was installed back in 2018.

Bautista explained that during New Year's day, the CAAP personnel tried to use two uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) but these also failed.

“Nagkaroon ng pangalawang problema dahil ‘yung pumasok na boltahe sa equipment ay 380 volts, instead of 220 volts. Kaya kaagad i-turn off yung system," Bautista said.

"Unfortunately, nagkaroon nga ng damage in some of the important equipment," he added.

Bautista said the transportation department and airport officials are investigating this over-voltage incident.

The transportation chief also said they are also probing if the incident was sabotage.

On Sunday at 9:55 am, the Philippine Air Traffic Management Center (ATMC) halted all flights to and from Manila after experiencing a technical glitch in the ATM system due to a power outage.

At least 361 international and domestic flights were either delayed, canceled, or diverted to other regional airports, affecting about 65,000 passengers.