Then-DOTC secretary Mar Roxas with his successor at the department, current Transport chief Joseph Abaya.
InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
The online news portal of TV5
More than 18 months later, the ambush-slay of a Zamboanga del Sur mayor and three others at NAIA 3 underscores how far short of delivering on that promise government is.
Authorities on Friday admitted that they still have not full installed security cameras, and have not come close to completing the task since the NAIA complex’s biggest terminal started operating in 2008.
On May 8, 2012, the lack of CCTV cameras at NAIA-3 was highlighted by a brawl involving newspaper columnist and broadcast personality Ramon Tulfo and actors Claudine Barretto and Raymart Santiago.
The brawl was partly captured on amateur video, and the footage posted on Youtube. The absence of official CCTV coverage was glaring, and the government was criticized for the security lapse.
Back then, Roxas - who has since moved to the Department of Interior and Local Government, and has been replaced at the DOTC by Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya - insisted that there were no security lapses at the airport, even as he explained the complexity completing the CCTV network in the NAIA because of its integrated computer system. He said Takenaka Corp. of Japan, the main contractor that built NAIA 3, had promised to fix the gaps in the CCTV network within 2012. The Tulfo incident was an isolated case, he said.
Last Friday, however, hours after the shooting incident outside the terminal on Friday killing the mayor of Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur and three others, Manila International Airport Authority general manager Jose Angel Honrado admitted that NAIA Terminal 3 is still not fully
operational, with 23 systems either lacking or needing to be upgraded, including the installation of CCTVs in the loading bay area.
“Ang Terminal 3 hindi fully compliant…Matagal nang issue ito. Noong dumating tayo, we identified 23 systems sa Terminal 3 na p’wedeng palitan or kaya major upgrade… Ito ‘yong sinasabi nating problema sa Terminal 3. At kasama rito ‘yong CCTV,” Honrado said in an interview with dzMM radio.
[Terminal 3 is not fully compliant. This has been a long-standing issue. When I assumed office, we identified 23 systems at Terminal 3 that either need replacement or major upgrade. This is the problem on Terminal 3 that we’re talking about. And the CCTV is included.]
The other faciilties lacking at the terminal are the flight information display system, computer system, and boarding bridges, according to Honrado. It was also reported earlier that the terminal lacked baggage handling system and fire alarm.
The construction of the terminal, one of the most controversial projects in the country, started in 1997. However, it was mothballed for six years starting in 2002 after the government nullified its contract with a consortium led by German firm Fraport and the Philippine International Airport Terminal Co. over allegations that the group had violated the Anti-Dummy Law.
The absence or malfunction of CCTVs at the terminal was cited as a problem when investigators were unable to reconstruct what really happened between Tulfo and Barretto’s group.
On Friday, Honrado assured that systems remediation at the 182,500-square-meter terminal would be completed by July 2014, including the installation of CCTV cameras through the DOTC's initiative.
No comments:
Post a Comment