DUTERTE Youth Party-list Representative Drixie Mae Cardema has refiled a measure seeking to revert the name of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) to Manila International Airport (MIA).
Cardema filed House Bill 1253, noting that naming NAIA after the late Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. was politically motivated.
“The name of the international gateway of the country should have not been politicized in the first place,” she said.
“Our nation's capital is named Manila, therefore our country's international gateway to the world must be known as the Manila International Airport as a sense of pride for our country's capital and for foreigners to easily locate our main gateway, when travelling to our country and across the world. In view of the foregoing, the passage of this measure is sought,” she added.
Aquino, a staunch critic of then dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., was assassinated at the tarmac of then Manila International Airport in 1983.
This resulted in a chain of events that ended in the ouster of Marcos from his 20-year ruling of the Philippines -- more than half of which were under Martial Law.
In 1987, under the Presidency of Corazon Aquino, the wife of the killed senator, Republic Act 6639 was enacted and the MIA was renamed NAIA.
Earlier, Negros Oriental Representative Arnolfo Teves Jr. filed a bill seeking to rename the NAIA to Ferdinand E. Marcos International Airport, citing that the latter should be credited for his contribution to the idea and execution of the project to build the airport.
In a statement, lone opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros said there is no need to change NAIA’s name, saying that it is a reminder of the People Power Revolution.
"Ang kamatayan ni Ninoy sa airport na yan ang isa sa nagsilbing mitsa sa pagpapabagsak ng diktatura at sa tuluyang pagkakaisa ng bansa tungo sa demokrasya," she said.
Incoming Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said he prefers to revert NAIA’s name to MIA. (SunStar Philippines)