Why cane umbrellas remain banned as hand-carried item on airplanes

The Office of Transport Security has eased the restrictions on hand-carried items and allowed air passengers to bring folded umbrellas onboard airplanes, but not cane umbrellas.

Cane umbrellas remain prohibited as a carry-on item but may be brought into the aircraft as part of checked-in luggage.

“It was considered as part of the prohibited items list due to its sharp and pointed components,” Kim Alyssa Marquez, officer-in-charge of the OTS Public Affairs Division, told GMA News Online on Monday.

The decision to prohibit cane umbrellas was due to the 1995 Sarin gas attack that killed several people in the Tokyo Metro, Marquez noted.

“If you … remember the Sarin Gas attack in the Tokyo subway in 1995, it was a sharpened umbrella tip which was used to puncture a plastic bag containing the poisonous Sarin gas killing at least 12 people and injuring thousands more,” she said.

“So ito po ‘yung ating mga measures na ginawa to prevent ‘yung similar terroristic acts,” Marquez noted.

Japan executed in July 2018 the former leader of a doomsday cult and six other members of the group that carried out a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, killing 13 people and shattering the country’s myth of public safety.

In December 2018, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a warning to travelers that the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) lacked aviation security measures.

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has since provided the Philippines with Aviation Security advisors to help develop and implement corrective measures.

The US DHS in August rescinded the public notice it issued, citing “significant improvements” made by the Philippines. —VDS, GMA News