Tuesday, December 05, 2006 TOC does background check
THE Tactical Operations Command (TOC) of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) is doing a survey of residents within the vicinity of the Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base to find out who have visited their area in the past six months.
TOC head, Maj. Gen. Horacio Tolentino, said they want to be sure that no terrorist or criminal element could infiltrate the air base and the Mactan airport during the Asean summit using the adjacent residential areas.
Tolentino said any person who wants to make trouble to disrupt the Asean summit will be stopped as the Mactan-Cebu International airport and the air base have very strict security measures.
This situation, Tolentino said, may force the terrorists or criminal elements to use the nearby residential areas to advance their illegal activities.
Once a resident will give the names of those who visit their place, the Air Force will conduct a background investigation to determine whether the visitors are not fugitives of the law or connected with terrorist organizations.
Explode bomb
Tolentino said some terrorists don’t have to kill people, but may just explode a bomb anywhere.
“We want to prevent this thing from happening by not limiting security measures within the air base or the airport but also including adjacent areas,” Tolentino said.
PAF aircraft will provide air cover on the summit venues, the hotels where world leaders are billeted and the ceremonial routes by flying over these areas regularly.
A portion of the Visayas air space will be declared a “no-fly zone” where all kinds of aircraft are not allowed to fly over, not even the plane of a head of state.
Tolentino said that if Mactan-Cebu International Airport will report of an intrusion of foreign or domestic aircraft into the area, the Air Force will intervene and chase that aircraft.
Supervision
TOC has overall supervision of all aircraft and operations of PAF in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Meanwhile, Tolentino said they might discuss with his subordinate commanders the suggestion of the public to open the road inside the air base as alternate way during the summit.
Chito Villareal, Philippine Airlines (PAL) manager, told Tolentino that during the dry run, some airline and airport employees failed to report for work because they were not allowed to pass the ceremonial route.
Tolentino said that while the people must support the Asean summit, public inconvenience should be lessened, if not avoided. (EOB)
