Naia gives up on ‘barangay’ send-offs

By: Jeannette I. Andrade - 10 years ago

INQUIRER PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

Officials have apparently given up and may just have to accept the Filipino tradition of bringing big crowds to the airport to see off a relative or welcome him home.

Who knows? Maybe officials at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) may even find a space for you to bring in your own brass band.

At Naia, having an entire barangay (village) around to send off a friend or a relative, or welcome him home, is no exaggeration. It is a situation airport officials can only accept despite the problems it causes.

A Naia employee of 12 years said amusedly: “Each passenger often has an entourage of up to 20 people seeing them off or fetching them.”

This send-off by the busloads, she said, is not limited to first-time passengers from far-flung areas. The airport, she added, is always crowded with more nonpassengers than passengers.

Exclusive tradition

While the large number of people congests the Naia and possibly poses a security threat, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Jose Angel Honrado said this was a distinct Filipino tradition which cannot be changed.

Honrado told the Inquirer that the Department of Transportation and Communications was now in the process of coming up with solutions to decongest the Naia terminals of “greeters.”

“It is really a concern because it is congesting the terminals and it becomes a safety issue,” Honrado said. “But there is little we can do because it is a Filipino tradition. It is truly Pinoy. So we have to make adjustments.”

Cannot loiter

According to the MIAA general manager, one plan is to set aside areas that can accommodate greeters—those who send off and welcome passengers—at the terminals, so these people will have a proper place and do not loiter around.

Existing greeters’ areas in all Naia terminals, he said, would also have to be expanded to accommodate more people.

“We have to adapt to this practice because very few countries have this kind of send-off or welcoming parties,” Honrado said.

Rehab plan

Naia Terminals 2, 3 and 4 have their own areas for greeters. A provision for greeters’ areas at Naia Terminal 1 has been included in its P1.3-billion rehabilitation plan.

According to Naia Terminal 1 manager Dante Basanta, the renovations include the allocation of the east and west wings of the departure area for passenger sendoff entourages.

“Each area can accommodate up to 300 people,” Basanta told the Inquirer.

Finished in May?

He said the authorities were still undertaking repairs and refurbishing the areas and this could be finished in May, along with the entire rehabilitation of the terminal.

“But knowing how Filipinos are, we will need an expansion of those (areas),” Basanta said.

He said the existing greeters’ area for arriving passengers at the parking lot could also be expanded to accommodate more people.

Currently sendoff parties crowd outside the Naia Terminal 1, congesting its entrance and making it difficult for other departing passengers to maneuver through the area.