Security, screening tightened at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines - Immigration and security personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) are on high alert for bearers of stolen or fake passports.

Hand-carried bags of airline passengers are also being subjected to tougher checks and examination at NAIA’s departure and arrival areas. The heightened security came at the heels of the disappearance of the Beijing-bound Malaysian Airlines flight 370 over the South China Sea last March 8. Two of the 227 passengers of the missing Boeing 777-200 aircraft were found to be carrying stolen passports.

Immigration chief Siegfred Mison has ordered the bureau’s Airport Operations Division (AOD) headed by Marie Vitan to examine passports more closely as precaution against human trafficking or even terrorism. The discovery of the two stolen passports has prompted authorities to explore the terror angle in the disappearance of the Malaysian aircraft.

Manila International Airport Authority assistant general manager for security and emergency services Vicente Guerzon said the stricter security measures would be enforced on a round-the-clock basis.

Also part of the enhanced security was the designation of two personnel to man X-ray machines. Frisking of passengers would be strictly enforced.

An official who is also an experienced pilot, for his part, said the missing aircraft could not have been hijacked because it had limited fuel and could not be made to land on ordinary runways because of its size.

“That is unlikely to happen because it has limited fuel. The only fuel that it carries is the one that it has on board and it has to land before it runs out of fuel. Since it is a big plane, it would require a long landing strip,” the official who requested anonymity said.

“What puzzles me is that the plane has a transponder that could be used during emergencies and they could have radioed ‘mayday’ but there was none,” he said. “The pilot could have pressed the alert in case of a hijack and the distress call would have been received by the control tower,” he added.

The official said the most critical part of a flight is during takeoff and landing. The official also said modern aircraft like the missing Boeing 777 have emergency locator transmitters (ELT) that activate automatically during a crash.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Airlines flight MH803 cancelled its departure for Kuala Lumpur last Monday at the NAIA due reportedly to a malfunctioning compass. The Boeing 737-800 was scheduled to leave at around 6:30 pm.

An airport source said flight MH 803 had 120 passengers. It was able to leave NAIA for Kuala Lumpur at around 9:18 am yesterday. With Evelyn Macairan