4-hour check-in imposed at NAIA

Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) security officials are advising travelers to show up four hours before their flight because of new stringent security measures following a foiled terrorist plot to blow up several US-bound airliners in Britain.

Travelers bound for the United States are now prohibited from bringing any kind of liquid, gel, lotion or similar items in hand-carried luggage after British security forces reported thwarting a plot to blow up several US-bound airliners in mid-flight using explosives concealed in sports drink bottles.

Senior Superintendent Atilano Morada, Aviation Security Group deputy commander, said the new restrictions applied mostly to flights bound for the United States, in line with US government edicts against liquids or gels in hand-carried baggage.

"What is happening right now is based on the security advisory from the other countries, we also follow the advisory since we have flights to and from the United States. We follow what is being advised by the Transportation Security Administration of the US such as those liquids being banned," he said.

"Those banned are all kinds of liquids. These are banned as hand-carried baggage inside the plane. The passenger could bring these as check-in baggage. This means, if a passenger checks in the airport, the passenger can check in the liquids, except flammable substances," Morada told a press forum yesterday.

Items with liquids and gels may be stowed in check-in baggage but only after passing security checks, Morada said, hence the need for an earlier airport check-in time.

Only baby formula or milk as well as medicines may be brought in carry-on baggage but they would still undergo inspection." Doctors would assist and check on these medicines," Morada said.

He explained that liquid explosives may be difficult to detect because they seem harmless when not mixed with other explosive substances. Some explosive chemicals are easily available in hardware stores.

"And if you’re a chemist, you would know how to mix these liquids and make these into a bomb," Morada said.

He added that travelers bound for other countries will still be subjected to stringent security checks "because the Philippines is sometimes being used by terrorists as testing ground."

In the Philippines, it wasn’t the first time that the NAIA has had to worry about liquid explosives. A 1995 plot to use them to bring down a dozen planes led to restrictions on liquids and aerosol products that were later eased.

In January 1995, a similar plot to bomb US-bound aircraft was hatched in Manila by Ramzi Yousef — the alleged mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing — who was convicted in a US trial in 1996 for the plot, along with Abdul Hakim Murad and Wali Khan Amin Shah.

Yousef also was found guilty of killing a Japanese passenger with a liquid bomb on a Philippines Airlines jet in 1994 that US prosecutors called a test run.

That plot, dubbed "Project Bojinka," was the first sign that large-scale plane attacks were being considered by terror groups. It was foiled by Murad’s arrest in January 1995 after fire broke out in the apartment he shared with Yousef, who fled to Pakistan where he was arrested a month later.

Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Calderon, said after a tour of the NAIA yesterday that the security measures were "more than enough."

But he said airport authorities should still look for ways to improve the security without putting travelers through too much inconvenience.

"We remain to be at heightened alert not only to address security matters but also to address whatever inconveniences there are for the passengers," Calderon told a press briefing, adding that the security alert level will remain in effect until further notice.

"We are still awaiting the actual assessment of terrorism task force from the Armed Forces of the Philippines," he said. "That will be the basis for downgrading the alert level."

Airport general manager Alfonso Cusi said they have relaxed a ban on purchasing items with liquids and gels from duty-free shops inside the airport but only for travelers not bound for the United States.

Items sold in those shops have already been checked by security personnel, he said.

Cusi added that electronic gadgets such as laptops and cellular phones are allowed in the aircraft cabin. "However, they have to undergo stringent security checks." — With Rainier Allan Ronda