P150-M Naia body scanners still hardly used

Nine months after being delivered at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), the P150-million full-body scanners purchased for the country’s premier gateway are still not being used on a regular basis by the Office for Transportation Security (OTS).

The 14 units have only been operated briefly on two occasions: For one week in August 2015 after they were installed at the final security checkpoints of the four Naia terminals; and in late March this year when Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya came for an inspection.

The operation of the German-made EQO model scanners, which were procured by the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) to enhance Naia security, was entrusted to the OTS, an office under the Department of Transportation and Communications.

When asked why the equipment have remained practically idle, OTS Assistant Administrator Roberto Almadin replied in a text message: “Kung hindi ginagamit, baka hindi pwede gamitin (If they are not being used, maybe it’s because they cannot be used).”

According to Almadin, the OTS had asked the scanners’ local distributor, Defense and Protection Systems Philippines Inc. (DPSPI), to conduct training sessions on their proper use.  “We told the supplier to assist [us] in operating the new equipment…. It’s like having a new plane, we have to be trained on that specific plane at least for some flying hours. If not, the possibility of a crash is highly possible,” his message read.

The Inquirer learned that DPSPI did conduct a series of training seminars but they were snubbed by OTS personnel and were attended only by the other law enforcement units based at Naia.

An OTS staff member claimed that the three scanners installed at Naia Terminal 1 were always “out of order” and required constant fixing, “so we don’t use them anymore.”

Meanwhile, newly appointed Naia Terminal 3 manager Ricardo Medalla Jr. confirmed that the five scanners at his terminal were not being utilized by the OTS.

“According to the chief security of the terminal, the OTS did not have enough trained personnel to operate [them],” Medalla said, adding that he would soon meet with the OTS next week to discuss the matter. “MIAA procured the equipment, but if they are not going to be used, then MIAA had spent so much for nothing.”