DECEMBER 5, 2010


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2 SECTIONS 16 PAGES VOL. 112 NO.055


HOLIDAY ACTIONS FOR BIODIVERSITY–A WISH LIST


The Green RevolutionB8 Trusted since 1898


PROSPECT OF MONTIEL BOUT INSPIRES DONAIRE


SportsA8


A TRUE VENUS


www.manilatimes.net » Sunday Times MagazineB1


Aviation security threats and realities


Special Report


AVIATION SECURITY CONCERNS


BY SCOTT STEWART O


VER the past few weeks, aviation security—specifically, enhanced passenger-screening


procedures—has become a big issue in the media. The discussion of the topic has become even more fervent as we enter Thanksgiving weekend, which is historically one of the busiest travel periods of the year. As this discussion has progressed, we have been asked repeatedly by readers and members of the press for our opinion on the matter. ➤AviationA2


»STRATFOR report


On heightened alert, NAIA praised by seasoned travelers – for politeness


SINCE the foiled terror plot in the United States in November, authorities have had the NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) on “heightened vigilance” against possible terrorist attacks. But Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Jose Angel Honrado said no additional security measures have been instituted because these could cause unnecessary panic.


➤AlertA2


REACH US AT: E-mail: newsboy1@manilatimes.net Tel. Nos.: 524-5664 to 67 Address: 2/F Dante Ang and Associates Building, 409 A. Soriano Avenue, Intramuros, Manila 1020


■ Airport securities handling K-9 units stand guard in front of the departure area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 in Parañaque protested against advisories. PHOTO BY RENE H DILAN


WHEN complaints against the treatment of air travelers by US Transportation Security Administration personnel hit the front pages and primetime TV, our columnist, Maribel Ongpin, was in America. She gave these examples of security-check experiences that were in the news because they went “beyond being annoying to hu- miliating and sometimes even violent:” –A passenger with a colostomy bag had to pass security. She advised the security people who were doing the pat down (the term for frisking, manually registering a per- son) that he had a colostomy bag. They ig- nored his words, frisked him with some


force that his “colostomy bag burst.” –A woman who had had a mastectomy because she had breast cancer advised the security handler that she had a prosthetic device to simulate the breast she had lost. She was told to disrobe there and then so that they could see what she was talking about. Apparently, they were ignorant about such devices.


–A career girl who was traveling with her computer was asked to show it to the han- dler who simultaneously reached for it in a very rough manner. The girl fearing for the safety of her computer and its contents de- fensively held on to it for which she was


■ President


Benigno Aquino 3rd delivering a speech at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Yokohama, Japan, on November 12. President Aquino slammed the United States and other Western allies for singling out the Philippines in travel advisories warning about an imminent terror attack. MALACAÑANG PHOTO


Are Israel’s methods really the best? Can they be used in the US or the Philippines?


wrestled to the floor, not just by the han- dler she was dealing with but also two other security people in the area.


–A passenger “who opted [as supposedly he had the right to do] not to pass the new body scan machine that exposes the body through the clothes, learned it was not the thing to do. As soon as he disclosed that he preferred the body search to the scanning machine, “loud cries erupted from the se- curity detail saying ‘We have a rejection, we have a rejection!’ The tone was one of emer- gency, alarm, as though they were shouting ‘Fire!’ And the effect was that, a multiple


➤IsraelA2


PNoy’s protest against travel advisories gets mixed reactions


IN early November, after the attempt to blow up US planes and airports was foiled, six countries issued travel advisories against “security soft” Philippines. These countries were Australia and France, the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Canada. Such advisories affect tourism.


President Benigno Aquino 3rd spoke out against these advisories. The President’s complaint got mixed reactions. The Left immediately pounced on him. They said President


Aquino should not protest but instead improve security in our airports and reform the government, reduce corruption and poverty, so that no locals would become agents of the jihadists and terrorists. Australia and France reacted positively to the President’s call to


tone down their advisories. Australia was the first to amend its advisory. France followed.


The main objection was the advisories’ stating that the Philippines was the site of an “imminent terrorist attack.” On Saturday, Abigail Valte, Palace deputy presidential spokes- man in a radio interview said that the change in Australia’s travel advisory—dropping the phrase imminent attack in Metro


➤ProtestA2


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