Letter to the Editor – Ramon Ang’s recent claim that his New NAIA Infrastructure Corporation (NNIC) remitted ₱57 billion to the government from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is not proof of generosity or efficiency—it is proof of bigger corruption at play.

The Marcos Jr administration and Ang are selling this as a success story. But in truth, that ₱57 billion did not come from San Miguel Corporation’s pockets. It came from the pockets of millions of ordinary passengers now paying far higher fees to utilize what used to be a publicly-operated airport. Every peso remitted to the government is part of what was collected from the people through steep increases in terminal and airline fees.

Since NNIC took over NAIA in September 2024, airport fees have surged across the board:

• Passenger terminal fees are up by 73% for international and 95% for domestic flights.
• Landing, parking, and tacking fees for aircraft are up by as much as 1,400% – costs that airlines pass on to passengers.
• Rental rates for airport spaces nearly doubled, pushing food and service prices inside NAIA higher than ever.

These hikes hit over 50 million passengers a year. NNIC now earns at least ₱12 billion annually from terminal fees alone, not yet counting its growing take from airlines and commercial tenants. Yet instead of revealing how much it profits, Ang highlights how much was “remitted” to the government—masking the fact that the public is being squeezed to fund both government collection and private profit.

When NAIA was publicly managed under the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), the law required “reasonable” rates. Under privatization, the private operator’s interest is to maximize profit. This setup—where the government surrenders control and consumers pay more so corporations rake in excessive profits—is gross misuse of public authority for private gain. In short, it is corruption at play on a grand scale.

NAIA’s privatization is not reform. It is turning over a public utility to a private firm to profit from, cloaked in the language of modernization. SUKI Network urges the public and the media to look past the hype and expose how privatization is the neoliberal corruption of public purpose—where public policy is used as an instrument of private enrichment, and makes the people pay the price over and over again.

Ang NAIA ay para sa mamamayan—hindi para sa ganansya ng iilan.