Mandatory removal of footwear in airports suspended pending DOTr review
The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has confirmed the suspension of the policy of the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) on the mandatory removal of shoes in all airports across the country.
With the suspension, passengers will only be required to remove their footwear when an alarm is triggered during security screening, during increased security condition level and during random screening.
But the OTS, in a report submitted to the DOTr, said that such screening will still be maintained by the airlines for US bound flights.
The mandatory removal of footwear as part of the screening process was implemented on July 10 by the OTS regardless of the security condition level.
The OTS earlier said that the move is aimed detecting and detering any prohibited items which may be concealed inside the footwear and used to commit acts of unlawful interference.
Such policy, according to the OTS, led to the detection of an ammunition and a packet of suspected drugs were intercepted by the OTS at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, during the x-ray inspection of shoes belonging to a foreign passenger on Aug. 10.
On the same day but on a separate incident at Mactan-Cebu International Airport, another passenger was arrested after the OTS intercepted a suspected marijuana concealed inside a shoe of a Surigao-bound passenger.
But the OTS said the mandatory removal of footwear is now suspended pending the review of the DOTr.