Of the many new names gamely proposed by some readers for the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in a bid to satirize the proposed bill of Congressman Arnolfo Teves Jr., MAFIA -- for Meldy and Ferdie International Airport -- was the most impressive.
Sa isang pahayag sa media noong Hulyo 5, sinabi ni Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. na naghain siya noong Hunyo 30 ng panukalang batas na nagmumungkahi na palitan ang pangalan ng Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) at gawing Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. International Airport. Binigyan-katwiran niya ang panukala sa pamamagitan ng pagsasabing "ginawa" ang paliparan sa ilalim ng administrasyon ng yumaong diktador. Ito ay nakaliligaw.
Based on the state of the nation address of then-president Manuel Roxas in January 1948, the Manila International Airport (MIA) already existed. That was 17 years before Marcos became president in 1965.
Congress needs to enact a law to rename the airport.
It was probably the only airport in the world tied to a dictator’s name, but only anecdotally. Often informally referred to as Hitler’s Airport, its official name was actually the Berlin Tempelhof Airport.
There has been no official statement from the incoming administration of Bongbong Marcos on renaming the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The international airport already existed long before Marcos took office.
Fact-checkers this year have had to repeatedly debunk claims that President Rodrigo Duterte had approved proposals to rename the Ninoy Aquino International Airport back to Manila International Airport.
President Duterte has not talked about renaming the NAIA in his speeches, nor has he signed any official order approving it. Congress has yet to pass the bill proposing to rename NAIA to “Pandaigdigang Paliparan ng Pilipinas (Philippine International Airport).
The same false claim has circulated earlier this year, and in 2018.
