THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said it was monitoring developments in the global outage that affected services from airlines to health care, shipping and finance worldwide on Friday but assured the public that the issues were being addressed.
"Some BSP-Supervised Financial Institutions (BSFIs) have experienced disruptions but are addressing the issue, while some have already restored affected systems," the central bank said in a statement.
Passengers mill around the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in this photo taken on July 19, 2024, hours after a massive systems outage worldwide disrupted operations in hospitals, airports and banks, among others. PHOTOS BY RENE H. DILAN Passengers mill around the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in this photo taken on July 19, 2024, hours after a massive systems outage worldwide disrupted operations in hospitals, airports and banks, among others. PHOTOS BY RENE H. DILAN Passengers mill around the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in this photo taken on July 19, 2024, hours after a massive systems outage worldwide disrupted operations in hospitals, airports and banks, among others. PHOTOS BY RENE H. DILAN Passengers mill around the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in this photo taken on July 19, 2024, hours after a massive systems outage worldwide disrupted operations in hospitals, airports and banks, among others. PHOTOS BY RENE H. DILAN Passengers mill around the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in this photo taken on July 19, 2024, hours after a massive systems outage worldwide disrupted operations in hospitals, airports and banks, among others. PHOTOS BY RENE H. DILAN Passengers mill around the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in this photo taken on July 19, 2024, hours after a massive systems outage worldwide disrupted operations in hospitals, airports and banks, among others. PHOTOS BY RENE H. DILAN
The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said on Saturday that more domestic and local flights were canceled even as computer systems worldwide were slowly getting back online following the mistake in a security software update that was traced to CrowdStrike, one of the largest operators in the industry, triggering systems problems that grounded flights, forced broadcasters off air, and left customers without access to services such as health care or banking.
Global shipper FedEx faced major disruptions, and some moderators who police content on Meta's Facebook were hit.
CrowdStrike is not a household name, but it is an $83 billion company with more than 20,000 subscribers around the world, including Amazon.com and Microsoft.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said on social media platform X that a defect was found "in a single content update for Windows hosts" that affected Microsoft customers.
"We're deeply sorry for the impact that we've caused to customers, to travelers, to anyone affected by this, including our company," Kurtz told NBC News.
The BSP said it required BSFIs to update and activate their resilience and continuity plans.
The central bank said its Real Time Gross Settlement System or PhilPassPlus was not affected by the downtime.
Commercial banks, including the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), UnionBank and BDO, were also affected on Friday.
"Microsoft reported an ongoing global issue affecting computer units. This issue has impacted certain operations in the bank which may cause longer wait times in our branches and contact center," BPI told the public at 5:04 p.m. on Friday.
"You may also experience delays in crediting of financial transactions, including bills payment and interbank fund transfers, as other institutions are likewise affected," it said in a statement.
BPI later said that its issues were resolved at 9:42 p.m. on the same day.
In a similar statement, BDO said that it experienced "technical difficulties due to widespread issues on Microsoft-based systems" and "may result in extended wait times at our Branches and Contact Center, and delays in or unavailability of processing transactions via our digital channels. "
Like BPI, BDO's issues were resolved on the same day.
"The financial system remains resilient, with alternative channels and digital platforms available for individuals and businesses," the BSP said.
Canceled flights
Meanwhile, the MIAA said the affected airlines were:
Cebu Pacific
5J186/5J185 Manila – Incheon – Manila
5J279/5J280 Manila – Denpasar – Manila
5J931/5J932 Manila – Bangkok – Manila
5J751/5J752 Manila - Ho Chi Minh – Manila
5J310/5J311 Manila - Taipei – Manila
5J678/5J679 Manila - Shanghai – Manila
5J759/5J760 Manila - Jakarta – Manila
5J746/5J747 Manila - Hanoi – Manila
5J563/5J564 Manila – Cebu – Manila
5J637/5J638 Manila – Puerto Princesa – Manila
5J649/5J650 Manila – Tacloban – Manila
5J383/5J384 Manila – Cagayan De Oro – Manila
5J404/5J405 Manila – Laoag – Manila
5J453/5J454 Manila – Iloilo – Manila
5J703/5J704 Manila – Dipolog – Manila
5J793/5J794 Manila – Butuan – Manila
5J897/5J898 Manila – Caticlan – Manila
5J966 Davao – Manila
5J3954 Davao – Manila
5J3958 Davao – Manila
5J464 Iloilo – Manila
CebGo
DG6193/DG6194 Manila – Legazpi – Manila
DG6497 Manila – Cebu
Air Asia
Z2-759/Z2-760 Manila-Cebu-Manila
Z2-306/Z2-307 Manila-Iloilo-Manila
Z2-211/Z2-212 Manila-Caticlan-Manila
United Airlines
UA190 Manila - San Francisco.
Other airlines whose flights have been canceled since Friday were Etihad, Jeju Air, Jetstar Asia, Jetstar Japan, Scoot, Hong Kong Express.