Avian sanctuary near NAIA could be moved to cut down on bird strikes

Airlines are up in arms over the proximity of a bird sanctuary near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport which, they said, compromises the safety of their passengers. Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. said in a press conference during the Asian Carriers’ Conference that the mangrove forest along Coastal Road in Las Piñas serving as a bird sanctuary would be closed and transferred if proven that it poses a threat to aircraft coming in and out of NAIA. Several airlines, including flag carrier Philippine Airlines, have been complaining about the prevalence of birds near and around NAIA. Birds that get sucked into the plane's engines could do deadly damage to the plane during a flight. Jimenez clarified that agencies led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) would still have to determine whether the birds in the sanctuary actually affect the air traffic in and out of NAIA. If proven to do so, he, said the sanctuary would immediately be closed and transferred. “It has to be done expeditiously because lives are at stake,” the DOT chief said. Only in the Philippines, said PAL president Ramon S. Ang, could a bird sanctuary be declared near an international airport. The coastal lagoon and mangrove forest along the Coastal Road is home to about 5,000 migratory birds. In 2007, then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo issued Executive Order No. 1412, which declared the area the Las Piñas-Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area and banned activities that would impede its ecologically vital role as a bird sanctuary. “Have you seen that place? There’s so much garbage there. That’s why all the birds go there,” the PAL chief lamented. The latest bird strike affected a PAL flight from Manila to Tacloban City last Wednesday. Category 2 Ang warned that the sanctuary’s proximity to the airport could hamper the country’s chances of getting an upgrade from the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA). According to the FAA’s website, if the agency deems that a country’s civil aviation authority does not meet the standards of the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization, it puts that country in Category 2. The FAA put the Philippines in Category 2 in 2008. This prevents Philippine carriers from adding new routes to the US and makes them subject to additional inspections when they arrive in the US. The DOTC and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) are pursuing key projects, including the night-rating of several airports in the country, to support the growing tourism sector and at the same time help upgrade the country’s status with the FAA to Category 1. To date, only two out of the 22 actionable items identified by the FAA as safety concerns remain unresolved: the lack of qualified safety personnel and the absence of an integrated information technology (IT) system to modernize the sector’s database. — BM, GMA News