Friday, January 12, 2007 Airport security tightened; delays expected
IF you’re scheduled to fly from the Mactan airport at midday today, brace yourself for extra security and possibly a long wait.
Security at the facility has doubled since yesterday, when four heads of state arrived for this weekend’s summit of Southeast and East Asian leaders and their dialogue partners.
Seven more heads of state and government, including President Arroyo, are scheduled to arrive between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. today, and security restrictions could delay commercial flights during those hours.
“Everything is in place, the people from the different government agencies are ready, especially with security,” said Assistant General Manger Romeo Bersonda of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA).
Delegates or their staff who are taking commercial flights will pass through the VIP lounge, while those arriving in private or presidential aircraft will pass through the Most Important Persons (MIP) lounge.
Immigration supervisor Casimiro Madarang III said they have assigned personnel at both the airport terminal and MIP Lounge 24 hours a day.
The leaders who arrived yesterday were Laos Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia, Lt. Gen. Soe Win of Myanmar and Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei.
Expected to arrive today are President Arroyo, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung of Vietnam, Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen of Cambodia, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore and Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont of Thailand.
Among others, they will take up the cause of conflicts in different countries that has resulted to attacks such as the blasts in General Santos, Cotabato and Kidapawan last Wednesday night.
“The more you dwell on it, the more these people who perpetrate the senseless killings get the upper hand because you glorify their senseless act by putting it in the news,” Ambassador Marciano Paynor Jr. said at the MIP yesterday. (EOB)
