Passengers arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 in Manila on October 19, 2011 ( AFP / NOEL CELIS)

Duterte has not announced name change for Philippines' biggest airport

This article is more than one year old.
Published on August 9, 2021 at 04:51
2 min read
By AFP Philippines

A video has been shared in multiple Facebook posts which claim it shows Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announcing that the country’s biggest airport Ninoy Aquino International would be renamed. The claim is false; Duterte does not mention renaming the airport in the video, while the agency that manages the facility said the reports were false.

"BREAKING! GOOD NEWS PRES DUTERTE WILL CHANGE THE NAME OF THE NAIA AIRPORT, THE AQUINOS CRIED," reads the title of a YouTube video posted on August 1. It has since been viewed more than 240,000 times.

Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila was named after late Philippine senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr, who was gunned down at the airport in 1983.

The video's thumbnail shows his daughter Kris Aquino in front of the airport.

A screenshot of the misleading post taken on August 5, 2021

The same video was shared on YouTube, Facebook and on various blogs.

The clip emerged online after the unexpected death on June 24 of the late senator's son and namesake Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, who ruled the archipelago nation from 2010 to 2016. The claim was previously shared on social media in February.

"It’s only the right thing to do! The Aquino family and their supporters don’t own that airport!" one person commented on the video.

"At last! I’ve been waiting for this. Thank you President Duterte for changing it!" another wrote.

However, the claim is false.

The video does not show Duterte announcing an airport name change, but a different politician, Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade presenting his office’s accomplishments and future plans.

Keyword searches found the clip was taken from a televised meeting of Duterte and his cabinet members on July 28.

A review of the meeting’s official transcript found Tugade only mentioned the airport when he talked about its improvement during Duterte’s term.

"NAIA was once tagged as one of the worst airports in the world. Since we became stricter in our baggage handling, the ‘worst airport’ tag changed. NAIA is now one of the most improved airports," Tugade said.

A representative for the Manila International Airport Authority, the government agency that manages NAIA, denied the reports.

"We have not heard of such information," a spokesperson told AFP on August 5.

While a bill to change the airport's name to "Philippine International Airport" was proposed by Paolo Duterte, the president's son, this remains pending at committee level, as of August 5.

Duterte's spokesman said the leader has left the matter to Congress, as renaming the airport would require the enactment of a law, ABS-CBN reported.

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