A bill renaming the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to the Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Pilipinas has been filed at the House of Representatives.
In filing House Bill No. 7031 last Thursday, House Deputy Speaker Paolo Duterte said there is a need to identify the country’s largest international airport as belonging to the Philippines by using the Filipino language.
“We need a more representative branding for the international gateway of our country, thus our proposal renaming NAIA to thePaliparang Pandaigdig ng Pilipinas. Aside from it bearing our country’s name, it is in our national language,” Duterte said.
“We want it to reflect the legacy of the Filipino people, our everyday heroes. The name bears no color, no political agenda. It only signifies our warmth as Filipinos in welcoming our own kababayans and foreign visitors,” he added.
The bill was also authored by Marinduque Rep. and House Committee on Energy chairman Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco and ACT-CIS party-list Rep. and House Committee on Appropriations chairman Eric Go Yap.
But Vice President Leni Robredo said yesterday that the proposed renaming of the NAIA is “ill-timed” given that the country is still grappling with the COVID-19 crisis.
“Nasa gitna tayo ng pandemya ito pa talaga ang maiisip natin?” Robredo said during an interview over CNN Philippines.
Opposition Sen. Francis N. Pangilinan said the move should be the least of the concerns of lawmakers.
“That should be the least of our concerns now that we are facing the COVID-19 pandemic and millions have lost their jobs and are starving,’’ Pangilinan said.
The main international gateway for travelers to the Philippines was renamed Manila International Airport to NAIA through Republic Act No. 6639 in 1987. (PNA and Ina Hernando Malipot)
