Palace: Renaming NAIA up to Congress

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang is leaving it up to Congress to decide on the bill filed by President Duterte’s son, Deputy Speaker Paolo Duterte, seeking to rename the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Duterte co-sponsored House Bill 7031 along with Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco and ACT-CIS Rep. Eric Go Yap. The measure aims to rename NAIA as the Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Pilipinas.

“We are leaving that to Congress because a law is needed to change the name of the NAIA,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said yesterday.

Critics of the Duterte administration said the filing of the measure was ill-timed as the country is grappling with the coronavirus pandemic.

Some sectors believed that the measure, which seeks to remove the name of the late senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino III was politically-motivated.

The younger Duterte denied this, saying there is a need to “rebrand the country’s premier gateway.”

NAIA used to be known as the Manila International Airport. It was renamed in 1987, four years after Aquino was assassinated at the tarmac.