A section of the ceiling at the waiting area of the Bicol International Airport (BIA) in Daraga, Albay, gave way and crashed to the floor on Thursday afternoon, according to Tagkaró News, which first reported the incident.
Photos circulating online show the aftermath: a gaping hole in the suspended ceiling where panels and a lighting fixture had been dislodged, exposing the metal framing and ductwork above. Debris and broken ceiling boards litter the polished floor near rows of steel waiting chairs, with shattered material scattered between the seats and the terminal’s glass curtain wall. A police officer is seen surveying the damage near a Biggs food kiosk, while a few passengers remain seated nearby.
Tagkaró reported that lawyer Marylou Duka-Castillo, whom it identified as a former Securities and Exchange Commission regional director and former Albay public information officer, was only a few meters from where the structure fell when it collapsed. As of posting, the outlet said the BIA management had not issued an official statement on the cause.
The collapse comes less than a year after the same terminal sustained ceiling damage from Super Typhoon Uwan (Fung-wong) in November 2025. During an inspection on November 11, 2025, then-Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez observed that parts of the ceiling had come loose, leaving holes that exposed pipes and the metal frame inside the roof, and the Department of Transportation ordered airport management to carry out immediate repairs.
The Bicol International Airport, billed as the country’s “most scenic gateway” for its views of Mayon Volcano, was inaugurated on October 7, 2021 and began commercial operations the following day, replacing the older Legazpi Airport. Its two-level passenger terminal spans roughly 13,680 square meters and was designed to handle about two million passengers a year. Despite its name, the facility is classified by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines as a Class 1 principal domestic airport and currently serves no international flights.
