SC asked to declare law renaming PH intl airport illegal

The Supreme Court was asked on Thursday to declare the law changing the name of the former Manila International Airport (MIA) to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) as illegal.

In a 16-page petition, lawyer Larry Gadon pleaded before the high court to declare Republic Act 6636 as null and void for violating existing rules and laws.

Gadon, through his lawyer and Manila Times columnist Al Vitangcol 3rd, asked the high court to compel the government to revert to the airport’s old name.

Gadon argued that the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) Guidelines, under paragraph 6 of Section 4 “mandated that no public place should be named or renamed after a person within 10 years of his death except for high reasons.”

He said that Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino 3rd was assassinated on the tarmac of MIA on Aug. 21, 1983. MIA was renamed to NAIA in November 1987 in honor of the former senator, a year after his wife, Corazon, ousted then president Ferdinand Marcos in a popular revolt.

“That was only 4 years from the death to the renaming — which violated this cited guideline,” Gadon said in his petition.

Gadon stressed that Aquino was not of exceptional character. In fact, he does not deserve to be declared a hero because declassified documents of the US Department of State on June 30, 2005 showed that “subversion accusations against Aquino are not new and may have some basis in fact.”

In fact, Aquino was adjudged guilty of subversion by the Military Commission,which Marcos formed, and was sentenced to death.

“Further, former Senator Aquino was not even declared a hero of this country. Why would a premier airport then be named after him? Republic Act 6639 should then be pronounced by this Honorable Supreme Court to be invalid , illegal and void,” the petition added.

It was Gadon who filed the petition against then Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, which eventually led to her ouster.

Source: TheManila Times