The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) yesterday said it is open to Malacañang’s call for an investigation into the failure of radar system that caused delays and cancellation of flights at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) the other day.

The MIAA denied power outage was the cause of the radar failure as there was no electrical disruption in the vicinity of NAIA.

"Though air traffic and its facilities are not the direct responsibility of MIAA, we took the liberty of issuing our usual advisories to the oublic on matters of urgency and announced our assurances that despite the technical glitch, we continue to keep the principle of safety first at the airport," MIAA general manager Alfonso Cusi said.

"We are ready to face any summon that will be odered upon us by the probing body. As a matter of fact, there was no blackout at the MIAA terminals and this is not the main source of the problem, as reported in the newspapers," he said.

MIAA pointed to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) as the agency that handles the air traffic control at NAIA.

"While we understand the sentiments of the affected passengers, we wanted to reiterate that NAIA and MIAA can only support CAAP in properly addressing the technical problem. I have instructed our engineers and operation people to give what they can do to help CAAP during that time. Fortunately, through the cooperation of the two agencies, the problem was restored with no casualties recorded," Cusi said.

"This is mainly a technical problem and it has no connection with any sabotage as others would imply. Aviation technical experts are already on top of the situation. Together with the CAAP, MIAA’s primordial concern is our public safety," assistant general manager for Airport Development and Corporate Affairs Tirso Serrano said.

"I am pleased to give my sincerest gratitude and high salute to men and women of NAIA, from our ground operations to engineering bloc, from our public affairs to Airport Police Department who painstakingly rendered their duties and walked the extra mile in solving and handling the problem and dealing with our passengers and the public," Cusi said at yesterday’s MIAA flag- raising ceremony.

As of 7 a.m. Monday, September 14, flight operations at NAIA were back to normal. All domestic and international flights were being serviced as scheduled. The MIAA management thanked the public for its cooperation and understanding.