QUEZON CITY - Representatives Paolo Duterte (Davao City, 1st District) and Eric Yap (Lone District, Benguet) have urged the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to check the status of, and upgrade, the security facilities in the country’s airports to lessen congestion in passenger terminals and heighten measures on ensuring public safety. 

In a resolution, the two lawmakers also said the DOTR should incorporate in its proposed budget for 2024 the expenditures needed to improve these facilities given the ever-increasing number of travelers going in and out of the country. 

Duterte and Yap noted that  the ease in  health and safety protocols on travel  has led to a significant rise in  airline passenger growth especially during  holiday seasons, which, in turn, has led to a disparity between  demand  and the number of available security equipment and facilities in the country’s airports, “resulting to missed flights, inter-terminal flight transfers, and jampacked check-in counters.” 

“The consistent congestion in these airports necessitates an increase and advancement in airport security facilities and equipment, particularly full body scanners and baggage scanners, to serve a larger number of people as well as ensure public safety in the exercise of every citizen’s right to travel,” they said in filing House Resolution (HR) No. 921. 

In pressing the DOTr to address the congestion and delays in  airports, Yap and Duterte said that this is  “part of the duties and functions of the House of Representatives” “to revisit and scrutinize existing laws, regulations, and circumstances that affect the country’s passengers as well as public order and safety.” 

‘Now, therefore be it resolved, as it is hereby resolved, that the House of Representatives of the Philippines urges the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to look into the current status of airport security facilities and equipment of the country’s airport terminals, particularly their full-body scanners and baggage scanners, and to include in its budget proposal for the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP) the provision of the said airport security equipment that shall be allocated in all airport terminals in the country,” they said in the resolution.

Airlines have been encouraging passengers to check in online or go to the airport as early as five to six hours before their flights to avoid delays and long queues, especially during peak seasons,  owing to the usual congestion at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and other airports in the country. 

The NAIA  recorded a total of 10,855,332 passengers in the first three months of 2023, a 158 percent increase over the 4,200,575 passengers that traveled through the country's primary gateway during the same period in 2022, according to reports quoting officials of the  Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA).