Coordination lapse, clerical error behind NAIA landing of US military aircraft — Sen. Marcos

MANILA, Philippines — The United States Embassy in Manila has informed the Senate foreign relations panel that there was a clerical error and coordination lapse between the flight planners and ground handlers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) where a US military aircraft landed last June 26. 

Senator Imee Marcos, who chairs the committee, on Friday said  that US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson had sent a letter to her office on Thursday, July 6, to explain the landing at the Naia of US military transport aircraft Boeing C-17. 

Citing the letter, Marcos said the aircraft was in the country to assist in a bilateral military exercise. It made a stop at Naia before proceeding to its original destination in Palawan to comply with immigration and customs requirements. =

“However, due to a clerical error, some of the information provided by the US government for the flight clearance was incorrect,” Marcos said in a statement.

“The US Embassy admitted that while the aircraft had an approved diplomatic clearance from the Department of Foreign Affairs, the US flight planners did not coordinate in advance with the Naia ground handlers and were, in fact, unfamiliar with the airport.”

The coordination lapse, she noted, resulted in “the parking of the aircraft in the wrong spot, delays in ground servicing, and subsequent delays in the completion of customs and immigration processes.” 

Sen. Marcos said the US Embassy also explained that the aircraft carried equipment for a US Marine Corps Mobile Operations Center to be used in the Marine Aviation Support Activity exercise. 

The US Embassy likewise clarified that the non-crew passenger aboard the aircraft was a US Marine who disembarked in Palawan to join his unit in the military exercise.

It was Sen. Marcos who first sought a probe into the questionable circumstances surrounding the landing of the aircraft sans any advisory on its arrival. 

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