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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Visayas devider Iloilo Airport security under review

Iloilo Airport security under review

Published Jan 30, 2026 03:56 pm
SECURITY at the departure area of the Iloilo Airport. (Tara Yap)
SECURITY at the departure area of the Iloilo Airport. (Tara Yap)
ILOILO CITY—Security measures at Iloilo Airport are under review after a knife-wielding passenger was shot by police this week.
Agencies under the Department of Transportation (DOTr) are coordinating with each other for the assessment and review of security measures.
Many Ilonggos blamed the removal of the initial security screening at the entrance of the airport’s departure area where bags and luggage would be screened by X-ray machines after the Jan. 28 shooting incident.
DOTr Secretary Giovanni Lopez ordered the removal of initial security screening last year as part of the efforts of the Marcos administration to ease travel nationwide.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), one of the attached agencies of DOTr, said security measures and protocols are not under their direct supervision.
CAAP Iloilo Terminal Supervisor Arthur “Art” Parreño said security implementation is under the Office for Transportation Security (OTS), another DOTr attached agency.
The decision to reinstall X-ray machines at the entrance of the airport departure area is not under the authority of CAAP Iloilo.
“It is not up to us whether or not to reinstate the first screening, but we are assessing what happened,” Parreño told Manila Bulletin in a phone interview on Friday, Jan. 30.
Iloilo Gov. Arthur “Toto” Defensor Jr. said he is not amenable to reimplementing initial security at the entrance of the airport departure area as this is not the practice in many airports here and abroad.
Defensor said it was an isolated incident and not necessarily the lack of X-ray machines.
He reiterated that the X-ray machine prior to entry at the airport boarding area discovered the knife from the bag of the passenger-turned-suspect.
The 54-year-old man suspect refused to surrender the bladed object when authorities asked him to.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) will help CAAP and other DOTr agencies in reviewing security measures.
“We are already coordinating closely with CAAP and other airport security units,” said PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. in a statement on Friday.
“Tinitingnan natin kung saan nagkaroon ng lapses at paano pa natin mapapalakas ang screening procedures lalo na sa regional airports. Ang malinaw dito, airport security is a shared responsibility, and we will make sure that all agencies are aligned to prevent similar incidents,” added Nartatez.
(We are looking at where lapses occurred and how to boost screening procedures in regional airports. Airport security is a shared responsibility, and we will make sure that all agencies are aligned to prevent similar incidents)

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