Escudero to OTS, MIAA: Give clear picture of who is responsible at airports

Sen. Francis Escudero. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero wants the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) and the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to clarify their exact roles in airport security after they pointed fingers on the “tanim-bala” extortion racket in the country’s airports.

In particular, Escudero wants the OTS to explain a recent memorandum it issued that effectively creates an “airport security organization in each airport serving civil aviation.”

He said the memo issued by OTS chief Roland Recomono on Sept. 2 states that the airport authority, which is the MIAA in Metro Manila, should create an “airport security authority” that will be responsible for “coordinating the implementation of security controls and procedures at each airport.”

The airport authority was also tasked to “establish and implement an airport security program.” An airport security committee should likewise be created to assist the airport security authority in each airport, the memo said.

“If the OTS is the single authority responsible for transportation security, then what is the role of the MIAA and all these other security authorities whose creation is mandated by the new memo?

“So many authorities and committees and organizations are involved in airport security, but at the end of the day, when something goes wrong, no one claims responsibility. Just look at the people surrounding the ‘tanim-bala’ victims,” Escudero said in a statement on Monday.

No less than MIAA General Manager Jose Angel Honrado admitted during last week’s hearing at the Senate that he was out of the loop in the “tanim-bala” cases, and had no control over other agencies operating in the airport.

Escudero said the OTS was created in 2004 by virtue of Executive Order 311, designating it as “the single authority responsible for the security of the transportation systems of the country.”

It is also in charge of the security screening of passengers, baggage and cargoes, and hiring, retention, training, and testing of security screening personnel, according to EO 311.

But the senator said the recent memo by the OTS, an office under the Department of Transportation and Communications, “muddles the responsibility for airport security.”

“The OTS should explain this memo and give us a clear picture of who is responsible for what at our airports. We have to identify each agency’s role and get rid of redundant functions,” he said.

Escudero issued the statement as some 9,000 delegates and members of foreign media descend on Manila for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit this week.

“The government is spending some P10 billion to host this major trade meeting and project the strength of the Philippine economy; we can’t possibly let a few bullets finding their way into random bags ruin the good image we’re building here,” he said.

He said the country could not afford to be lax amid terror threats in other parts of the world, citing what appeared to be coordinated attacks on different venues in Paris last week that killed at least 129 people.

“The MIAA and OTS should know by this time what each agency’s role is in airport security, so that we know who to look for when problems arise,” he said.