NAIA Terminal 3 General Manager Eric Jose Ines (2nd from left) shows the artistic rendition of the proposed second OFW Lounge to Speaker Martin Romualdez (3rd from left) on Tuesday afternoon. (Speaker’s office)

A bigger Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) Lounge is coming to Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA T3), thanks to the consortium led by San Miguel Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ramon Ang. 

House Speaker Martin Romualdez has expressed his gratitude to the consortium for their willingness to provide an even bigger space for the planned OFW Lounge at T3, which will be the second following the successful launch of the first OFW Lounge in Terminal 1 (T1) last January. 

“Dito sa T3 nakikita natin itong original envisioned OFW Lounge kagaya sa T1. Napakaganda nun pero punong-puno na. Dito naman sa T3 kasi mas maraming pasahero ang darating dito," Romualdez said during a visit there on Tuesday afternoon, April 23. 

(Here at T3 we will see the original envisioned OFW Lounge at T1. That was very nice but it's always full. We expect even more passengers to arrive here at T3.) 

"We are very grateful to Mr. Ramon Ang and Mam Cecille (Ang’s daughter) for accommodating not only the OFW Lounge here but they want to accommodate a larger space that’s almost double the area,” he said. 

“Mas malaki pa ang gustong ibigay, naliliitan sila sa unang plano sa request. So talagang nakikita natin na mas magiging maayos at maganda ang operation dito sa NAIA,” added the House leader. 

(They want to give a bigger space since they find the request from the original plan too small. So we can really see that the operations here at NAIA will be better.) 

SMC-SAP & Co. Consortium of San Miguel Holdings Corp., RMM Asian Logistics, Inc., RLW Aviation Development, Inc., and Incheon International Airport Corp recently bagged the P170.6-billion public-private partnership (PPP) project for the comprehensive rehabilitation and operation of NAIA. 

The Speaker, accompanied by Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales and Majority Leader Manuel Jose "Mannix" Dalipe, passed by T3 to see for themselves the progress in the construction of the planned OFW Lounge. 

Romualdez said that the additional space envisioned for OFW Lounge  in T3 can accommodate around 200 passengers. 

Like the first OFW Lounge, it will be provided with amenities so departing OFWs could have a comfortable place to stay before departing the country to go back to their jobs abroad. The OFWs are also given free food and refreshments. 

“We are also grateful to the management here for coordinating this request to make sure that our migrant workers who are traveling through the NAIA terminals are accommodated as VIPs (very important persons) should be,” Romualdez said. 

He said the planned OFW Lounge in T3 could be operational by the end of June this year. 

The Office of Speaker Romualdez also delivered an initial donation of a 55-inch and a 65-inch television set that would be installed at the T1 OFW Lounge to provide entertainment for the departing migrant workers. 

A subsequent donation of four TV sets will be delivered to the T3 OFW Lounge.