P-Noy checks security measures at airport

MANILA, Philippines–President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday dropped by two terminals of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) to check on facilities and security measures being implemented for the thousands of passengers expected to fly out for the four-day Holy Week break.

Aquino, accompanied by Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya and Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) officials, arrived at Terminal 3 around 2 p.m.

After passing through an X-ray counter at Gate 2, he proceeded to the “Oplan Ligtas Biyahe” help desk set up by government agencies before going to the check-in and preboarding areas of Cebu Pacific, one of the budget airlines operating at the terminal.

Octavio Lina, Naia Terminal 3 manager, said they expected to process up to 46,000 passengers for the day.

The President also took the time to greet passengers waiting for their flights, some of whom took pictures of him using their cell phones.

After staying in the area for 15 minutes, he left for Naia Terminal 4, the old Manila Domestic Airport.

Meanwhile, the MIAA bought 30 portable air-coolers to improve ventilation at the Naia Terminal 1 immigration area following complaints from passengers.

“We put the coolers in the departure area where there are more passengers queuing and the ventilation there is a lot better now,” MIAA public affairs chief Consuelo Bungag told the Inquirer.

The inconvenience caused by the poor ventilation at Terminal 1 has been a hot topic in social media in the past two weeks. Some government employees manning counters at the passenger areas have even started buying their own electric fans just so they can go on working more comfortably.

The poor ventilation was compounded by glitches that slowed down the immigration processing beginning Monday. Jerome Aning