Duterte: PAF to take over NAIA if…

The Philippine Air Force (PAF) will take over the Ninoy Aquino International Airport if security issues at the NAIA are not addressed, President Duterte said.

Duterte said the Philippines stands to lose if an untoward incident happens at the airport.

“I am issuing a warning. If that NAIA is not – the security is not improved there – I will order the Air Force to take over. You must remember I declared a national emergency when I started as President. And I would invoke it,” Duterte said during the 122nd anniversary of the Presidential Security Group last Wednesday at Malacañang.

“Napakadisgrasya ’yan kung may mangyari diyan. Talo tayo lahat diyan (It would be a disgrace if something happens there. We will all lose),” he added. Duterte did not elaborate on the security concerns hounding the airport. The President made the remark a month after he made a surprise visit to NAIA Terminal 2 due to reports about flight cancellations and diversions. He

promised to come up with a solution to the problem within a month.

Duterte has also expressed dismay over the situation at NAIA and hinted at a possible revamp of the airport’s management.

To ease the congestion at NAIA, the government is studying the transfer of general aviation or domestic flights to Sangley Airbase in Cavite.

In 2016, Duterte issued Proclamation No. 55 placing the entire country under a “state of emergency.” In the proclamation, the President directed the armed forces and the police to suppress “any and all forms of lawless violence in Mindanao” and to prevent this from spreading to other parts of the country.