THE New NAIA Infra Corp (NNIC) that manages and operates the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminals has been given a proposal to change the security setup between the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) at the departure area.
According to the proposed setup, the OTS, which mans the final security checkpoint will come first to screen all departing passengers before immigration to process documents. This is meant to reduce travellers’ complaints.
This setup, where immigration comes first before security, has been going on for a long time in NAIA, and is deemed contrary to international procedure in most other countries, where the security screening and x-ray come first before immigration procedures.
According to OTS Spokesperson Kim Marquez, her office proposed this to the NNIC last year to reduce complaints they are receiving from passengers because once they have finished and gone through the immigration process, the immigration will no longer allow passengers to go out. This becomes a problem if the passenger needs to be off loaded because an item or items that are prohibited were found from the departing passenger, but they can no longer leave the area as their passports are already stamped and cleared by an immigration officer.
There has already been a preliminary meeting on the proposal to change the setup, but electrical problems at the airport still need to be fixed, and it is possible that there could be a problem with the queue of passengers if it is held now due to the holiday rush, Marquez added.
Image credits: Michael Edwards | Dreamstime.com
