NAIA to "Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Pilipinas"

Back in 1987, under Corazon Aquino's  presidency, Manila International Airport (MIA) was renamed to Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA)  to honor her late husband Ninoy Aquino through Republic Act No. 6639 which was enacted without executive approval on November 27, 1987.

Photo Credit: cnnphilippines.com

According to a survey released by London-based research firm Skytrax, NAIA in 2018 was among the world’s “most improved” airports.

As the country battles with the Coronavirus pandemic, presidential son Paolo Duterte files a bill to rename the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to “Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Pilipinas" together with two other lawmakers.

Davao City 1st District Representative Duterte, Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco, and ACT-CIS Representative Eric Yap filed House Bill (HB) No. 7031 on Thursday, June 25, aiming to remove the name of the late senator “Benigno” “Ninoy” Aquino Jr from the main international airport in Metro Manila.

The associates of President Rodrigo Duterte reasoned that NAIA’s name has to be changed to Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Pilipinas (International Airport of the Philippines) because "there is a need to identify the same as belonging to the Philippines.”

“With the proposed name, the airport will easily be identified as the international doorway of the country, in view of it being in Filipino language and branding it as the international airport of the Philippines,” the lawmakers said in their bill's explanatory note.

Mr. Duterte, Velasco, and Yap filed HB 7031 on the same day the Department of Health (DOH) said that the COVID-19 cases in the country has risen to 33,069.

The issue gathered a lot of negative reactions from netizens, some says that the government should focus on fighting the virus and helping those people who are very much affected. Also, instead of renaming NAIA which can be done after resolving some more important issues, the government should take faster actions regarding our OFW's that lost their jobs and needed to come home.