Tension between NAIA security groups deplored

Country managers of foreign airlines expressed alarm yesterday over the reported near shootout incidents between members of two law enforcement units tasked to secure the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

The airline officials, who asked that their names be withheld for the time being, feared that the on-going "blood feud" between the Aviation Security Group (ASG) and the Airport Police Division (APD) might affect the operations of the 32 foreign airlines in the Philippines.

The officials disclosed that they are drafting a position letter for higher authorities to step in before the quarrel over turf develops into a shooting war between the two law enforcement units and put the security of the airlines and their passengers at risk.

"The simmering feud between the two law enforcement units at the NAIA might open doors for terrorists to come in as the ASG and the APD are now concentrating on watching each other’s backs," said a country manager of foreign airlines.

They added that the near shootout incidents which took place last week at the NAIA have also alarmed foreign-based top executives of the airlines who have expressed strong concern over the security of their airplanes and passengers.

ASG and APD members in full battle gear almost shot it out Tuesday last week at the departure area of the NAIA’s Terminal I after an APD member questioned the presence of an ASG man in civilian clothes in a restricted area of the said terminal.

Prior to this incident, ASG personnel were prevented by APD men from entering the ramp at Terminal II, prompting the ASG officials to order the arrest of the APD men who stopped the ASG men from entering the terminal.

This was followed by another near shootout between the two groups inside the airport board room when a meeting called by the ASG to patch up differences with the APD was questioned by APD chief Peter Mutuc.

Mutic harangued the ASG officers who attended the meeting. He questioned the authority of the ASG officers to call such a meeting. All of a sudden, guns were cocked, and Mutuc pleaded for restraint.

The meeting ended without the two groups patching up their differences which only worsened as a result of the near shootout inside the board room.

Despite the pronouncement made by the PNP hierarchy that the ASG has the mandate to secure all international and domestic airports in the country, the APD refuses to give an inch over the issue of turf, claiming it has the exclusive authority to secure NAIA.