NAIA relaxes ban on liquids, gels

Authorities at the country’s premiere airport have relaxed the ban on liquid items carried by international and domestic passengers.

In a memorandum released by the Airport Security Center, liquid items and gels purchased at duty free shops or other retail shops located right after the final screening checkpoint inside Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminals I and II will now be allowed to be carried by passengers inside the aircraft cabin.

Liquid or gel medication will be allowed inside the cabin only if a passenger can show a valid prescription with his or her name.

Passengers with infants may be allowed to carry or have in their possession baby formula, breast milk or fruit juice.

Airport management, however, reiterated that the ban stays for carrying beverages, shampoo, sun tan lotion, creams, toothpaste, hair gel and lipstick.

"These items are not allowed beyond the final screening checkpoint and should be placed inside check-in baggage," Col. Rizalino Roxas of the ASC said.

A total ban on liquid and gel items carried inside the aircraft cabin was imposed last Aug. 12 following a foiled terrorist attack in the United Kingdom, where liquid bombs were to be used by suicide bombers in blowing planes while airborne.

Two weeks ago, the United States Transportation Security Administration relaxed the ban, which they had initiated after the discovery of the foiled terror plot targeting US-bound planes from the UK.