Will the troubles at NAIA ever stop?

It seems there is always something up at --or something wrong with-- the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Fresh from reports that delays in immigration processing were causing some passengers to miss their flights, and then the allegations that female security personnel were allowed to frisk members of an all-male K-pop group --so that the personnel could film it-- they are again under the spotlight for allegedly making it easy for human traffickers to get away.

According to reports, a private flight bound for Dubai last Monday only manifested six passengers, but there were actually 14 of them on board.

Now the Senate is calling for an inquiry as to how the others on that plane were able to get on board in the first place.

This was not the first time NAIA got called out for “enabling” human trafficking. Just three weeks ago they also became the target of scrutiny after three Filipinos were allowed to board a plane headed to Bangkok, Thailand, on the pretense of being tourists when they were actually headed for work abroad.

The three trafficking victims said that their supposed documents were only handed over to them at the airport a few hours before their scheduled flight and that they were breezed through immigration.

They got lucky; several Filipinos are now desperately trying to return home after being duped into doing what can be called slave labor and even criminal activity in Myanmar, their likely final destination after landing in Bangkok.

This is something NAIA has to answer for again. Most likely it won’t be the last time they get into the spotlight for something unsavory.

It’s unfortunate that the shenanigans at NAIA become more glaring when you consider that the Mactan-Cebu International Airport was just recently awarded as Asia's Best Airport in Airport and Destination Marketing in the Under 5 million Passenger Category.

On the other hand, horror stories about NAIA never seem to stop from both local and foreign tourists. It has even been described as one of the worst airports for business travelers.

This is not to toot our own horn; it is to call attention to the fact that what is supposed to be the premier gateway into our country doesn’t seem to be living up to its name. NAIA has a lot of cleaning up and shaping up to do.