Marcos To Airport Officials--Hire More Personnel
To Assist Christmas Passengers

Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has called on Transport and Communications Secretary Emilio Abaya to hire more personnel to assist passengers going in and out of airports, especially at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Marcos explained that with the expected influx of passengers due to the Christmas holidays, airport personnel should be beefed up to avoid further inconvenience to passengers.

"Passengers have to contend with the monstrous traffic going in and out of our airports in the NAIA and they certainly don't deserve this. That is why our airport officials need to make sure they don't suffer more inconvenience anymore when they step into the airport. More personnel should be manning our airports especially the NAIA," Marcos said.

Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) had stated that it was expecting passenger volume to go up by ten (10) percent this Christmas week from the 1.6 million arrivals and 1.4 million departures last year. This translates to at least 300,000 additional passengers.

Marcos stressed that while he knows that airport police and personnel are on maximum deployment from December 15 to January 5, they will not be enough to assist all passengers.

He pointed out that he has been receiving numerous complaints that not all gates in the airport terminals are open during peak hours and that only one baggage scanner is working to service those taking midnight flights. This has resulted to more delays because of the long lines created.

"I receive numerous complaints from passengers. I myself have experienced it. And it will only get worse if our airport officials continue to ignore the desperate pleas of our passengers. The way to solve this for now is for them to hire more personnel to man the gates so that more gates will be opened and more baggage scanners may be operated to service them," Marcos said.

He further noted that if only airport officials did their job, they need not be reminded of their duties to ensure passenger safety and convenience at the airports.

"This should be very basic for them because this is their job. They need not be reminded but with the many complaints we have been hearing and receiving, I think a small reminder should work so they could at least perform the duties they have sworn to perform," Marcos concluded.