BACOLOD CITY – The Bacolod-Silay Airport (BSA) in Silay City, Negros Occidental is implementing stricter security protocols amid a threat in airports across the country.
BACOLOD-Silay Airport. (Glazyl Masculino)
Police Major Deejay Domingo, chief of the BSA Police Station of the Philippine National Police-Aviation Security Group, said that they have doubled security in the airport to prevent untoward incidents.
Tighter security was imposed after the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) placed all 42 commercial airports in the country on heightened security alert after its Air Traffic Service received a warning via electronic mail that aircraft from Manila bound to Puerto Princesa City, Mactan-Cebu, Bicol, and Davao International Airports "are about to be set off by a bomb."
Roel Aranzado, BSA manager, stressed that intelligence reports from the PNP-Aviation Security Group did not find a real-time threat to BSA.
However, we are putting all security units into heightened alert in compliance with the CAAP directive, such as increasing the number of security personnel at critical areas, he said.
Domingo said the situation at BSA is normal but he noted that tightened measures should be implemented to ensure the safety of travelers.
As part of tighter security protocols, Domingo said they are conducting continuous monitoring, random patrolling and checking of airport terminals, intensified perimeter security, and reiterated to airport guards to properly check passengers coming in and out of the airport.
Last July, a bomb threat from an airdrop of a cellular phone disrupted the BSA, delaying a Cebu Pacific flight bound for Manila from this city.
Domingo appealed to the public to never make a bomb joke as it causes inconvenience to travelers as well as airport staff. Those who make this could face imprisonment and fines.