MANILA, Philippines — Catholic bishops on Sunday joined airport workers and community advocates in urging the government and the New NAIA Infrastructure Corporation (NNIC) to suspend the implementation of higher fees at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), which took effect on September 14.
The appeal came after a concelebrated Mass for “Guidance, Truth, and Accountability” in Barangay 183, Villamor, where Bishops Ben Labor, Aldrin Lleva, and Agustino Tangca condemned the increases as “anti-people and unjust.”
“Institutions such as NAIA should serve the welfare of passengers, workers, and small businesses—not just the interests of a few powerful corporations,” Labor said in his homily.
The bishops warned that the fee hikes for travel tax, parking charges, stall rentals, airline runway use, and ticket surcharges were rolled out without “genuine consultation” and would heavily burden ordinary Filipinos, including overseas workers. They appealed to the Department of Transportation, the NNIC, and the Supreme Court to put the new charges on hold until the public is fully informed where the revenues will go.
Coalition PUSO ng NAIA, which organized the event, vowed to step up its campaign against the increases.
“We feel our cause has strengthened immensely with the moral support given by our church leaders today,” said Romy Sauler, the group’s head secretariat. “We pray that NNIC and its owner, Mr. Ramon Ang, listen to the people’s plea.”
The gathering drew church leaders, workers, and residents in a rare show of unity against what they called the privatization of the country’s main gateway “at the expense of public interest.”
Under MIAA’s Revised Administrative Order No. 1, which took effect in the second year of its concession agreement with NNIC, international passengers will now be charged P950 per departure, up from P550. Domestic travelers will pay P390, nearly double the previous P200.
The adjustment, the first in more than two decades, has been met with mounting criticism from passengers’ groups and lawyers who have petitioned the Supreme Court to suspend its implementation, arguing that the hike is premature and burdensome.
NNIC, a consortium led by San Miguel Corp. and South Korea’s Incheon International Airport, defended the higher rates, stressing that they were mandated under the government-approved concession deal and not arbitrarily imposed.
The private operator maintained that the fee hike is necessary to fund long-delayed upgrades at the country’s busiest airport, long criticized for congestion and poor facilities.
