AIRPORT officials yesterday passed the buck and pointed fingers at each other as they struggled to explain allegations that human smuggling activities are now facilitated using chartered flights.
In Tuesday’s hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee, some executives of the PNP Aviation Security Group (Avsec), the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Investigation and Intelligence Division and CAAP Air Traffic Service tried to wriggle out of the incident on February 13 where a private flight was able to fly out without a proper pre-departure inspection.
Asked by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada about the allegations of Sen. Grace Poe in her privilege speech, Col. Rhoderick Campo, of the PNP-Avsec-National Capital Region Aviation Security, said they failed to stop the aircraft from departing because they had no direct contact with the pilot.
In her speech delivered on February 15, Poe had said that Dubai-bound private aircraft with tail number N92527E was allowed to fly out without airport officers doing a proper check of its passengers, whom she said counted more than the number of passengers listed in the flight’s manifesto.
Poe said the flight was apparently used for human smuggling.
“That is your duty, that is your right to inspect, and that is your job,” Estrada told the Avsec official.
Campo said he reached out to retired Gen. Dionisio Robles, of the CAAP Investigation and Intelligence Division and requested that he contact the tower to stop the flight.
But CAAP Air Traffic Service assistant director general Marlene Singson said “no one from Manila Control Tower” made such a request.
After more questioning, Robles acknowledged receiving the call from Campo. He said he advised the latter to coordinate with the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), which has jurisdiction on such matters.
He said the coordination could have come a little late since the aircraft was still able to depart.
Sen. Raffy Tulfo said a “processing center” should be in place at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) where passengers of private planes, including VIPs, can be screened before they are allowed to board.
“There should be a processing center that passengers will pass through the eye of a needle just like the rest of us. What makes them so special that they can just board an aircraft just like that?” Tulfo said in a mix of Filipino and English.
MIAA general manager Cesar Chiong said he would recommend to higher authorities the establishment of the one-stop-shop processing center in NAIA.
“Ideally po kasi sa ibang bansa what they have is a general aviation terminal, naka separate po ‘yung commercial flights and private jet. So, sa Asia, based po sa research namin, parang Vietnam lang at Philippines ang walang aviation terminal na ganun. (Ideally, in other countries, what they have is a general aviation terminal which is separated for the commercial flights and private jets. So, in Asia, based on our research, it looks like Vietnam and the Philippines are the only countries without terminals like that),” Chiong said.
Poe, on the other hand, said the baggage of passengers of private planes should also be subjected to screening of the Bureau of Customs.
