NAIA security causes heavy traffic

A day after President Arroyo castigated Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Edgardo Manda due to alleged lax in security within the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), security tightened in all areas of the country’s premier airport.

However, another problem cropped up after NAIA’s tightened security have caused horrendous traffic leading to the international airport, which required passengers to go the airport terminals two hours earlier so as not to miss their flights.

The NAIA have earlier adviced passengers to go to the airport at least two hours or even three hours before their scheduled flight. But this time, they are likely adviced to go about four, five or six hours earlier due to the heavy traffic everyday.

Even NAIA employees, who requested anonymity, said the airport security should conduct a better system in handling security at checkpoints leading to the departure and arrival areas of the international airport.

One employee said just transferring from NAIA Terminal 1 to NAIA Terminal 2 would take at least 40 minutes during ordinary days, which normally took only about five to 10 minutes before the tighter security measures were implemented.

Roads leading to the international airport have always been clogged, making NAIA a bottleneck within the area, said another employee.

Queues of vehicles stretching along MIA Road from Coastal Mall at the corner of MIA Road and Coastal Road in Parañaque up to the checkpoint of the NAIA near the Philippine Village Hotel could be seen everyday.

It normally takes 45 minutes up to about one and a half hours just to drive from Coastal Mall up to this checkpoint on MIA Road, said one irate employee who drives to work everyday. Before this unusual traffic, it only took him two to three minutes to get to the airport.

Along Sucat Avenue, where two other entry points could be seen in the NAIA, queues of vehicles could also be seen everyday, taking almost an hour just to get from Sucat Avenue up to the parking area of the airport. Even foreigners who are departing passengers were seen yesterday walking along the ramp, about a hundred meters away from the departure area at NAIA Terminal 1, just to avoid the heavy traffic.

One foreigner was even seen directing traffic so that the taxi he was riding on could pass through because the ramp was clogged due to traffic.