Panelo complains of two-hour delay in Naia baggage claim

MANILA, Philippines  — Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo has complained about the delay on the retrieval of his luggage after he arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) from Japan on Saturday.

Panelo said he already called out the attention of Naia General Manager Ed Monreal on the issue.

“It took us more than two hours to retrieve our luggages. Why? Because there was only one or two carousel functioning and there were four trips arriving simultaneously at the airport – the trip from London, from Bangkok, Singapore and from Japan,” he said in a Palace briefing.

The Palace official also complained that the air conditioning unit at the airport was also not functioning.

“Not only that, the air condition was not functioning, if at all; and there was no space to maneuver or to move, because can you imagine hundreds of passengers in front of one or two carousel,” he said.

Panelo suggested that carousels must be checked regularly after it was cited to be the reason of the delay.

“But we suggest—because their explanation is that one carousel broke down. Carousels should be checked on a regular basis. If you do that every week or at least twice a week, I don’t think a carousel will break down,” he said.

“Number two, another explanation is that there were simultaneous arrivals; but that can easily remedied. How? All the NAIA would do is to request the airlines or their respective planes, not to disembark the passengers for at least 30 minutes interval so that they will not be all there in one sweep,” he added.

Panelo said Monreal has already apologized over the incident.  (Editor: Mike U. Frialde)

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