Celebrity brawl reveals that NAIA-3 CCTV cameras don't work

Published May 8, 2012 10:25am

(Updated 6:05 p.m.) Convenience stores now have CCTV cameras, so do homes and even street corners, where these small devices constantly record everything that moves. The nation's newest international airport terminal has them too. But they don't work, one of the surprising revelations from last Sunday's celebrity brawl that has fixated the public's attention. The absence of functioning CCTV cameras in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport terminal 3, which had long been embroiled in legal troubles, has raised concern about the risks to passenger safety in case something more serious than a fistfight broke out in the terminal. "Paano kung mas grabe pa ang mangyayari, halimbawa, may banta na ng terorismo?" Sen. Bong Revilla said in a statement. "Mahihirapan tayong matugunan ito kung walang sapat na mga hakbang-pangseguridad ang ating mga paliparan." Airport authorities were quick to assure the public that CCTV cameras are not essential to security.

In a radio interview, MIAA head Jose Angel Honrado said many "administrative" security measures are still in place to make sure potential troublemakers cannot get around the airport easily.

"Hindi porke't meron kang CCTV, wala ka nang other security procedures, di ba?" Honrado said.

MIAA Public Affairs Department officer-in-charge Connie Bungag clarified that the CCTV systems were already in place, but had not yet been finished when the construction of Terminal 3 was stalled by a major international legal dispute.

"As everybody knows, Terminal 3 has been the subject of a legal arbitration case between the Philippine government and its builders... Kasama yung CCTV na yan because it has not been working since the terminal was closed, so effectively, hindi na siya gumagana," she said.

Video of the incident After columnist Mon Tulfo and show business couple Raymart Santiago and Claudine Barretto exchanged blows and then accusations about who started the fracas, Santiago demanded that airport authorities release CCTV footage of the incident. But there was nothing to release. The only video of the incident the public has seen is footage shot by a cell phone-wielding passenger at the height of the brawl, which was posted on YouTube and broadcast by TV networks nationwide. That video shows Tulfo being restrained by security guards as Santiago, Barretto, and an unidentified companion of the couple assaulted him. Santiago claims that the video only captured "round two" of the action, the first round being the violence allegedly instigated by Tulfo at a Cebu Pacific counter where Barretto was complaining about the couple's offloaded baggage. What occurred there has been hotly disputed, with Tulfo charging that Santiago hit him first, while the couple and an eyewitness who refuses to be identified all claiming that Tulfo started the rumble by kicking Barretto after she objected to being photographed by Tulfo. Without CCTV footage, the courts hearing the charges both parties have filed against each other can only piece together what happened through testimonies of witnesses.

In a television interview Tuesday, the MIAA's Bungag said installing CCTV is one of the priorities for NAIA.

"Hopefully, we can start and finish it within the year para finally ma-cover na lahat ng areas ng terminal," Bungag told GMA News TV. In 2007, NAIA's safety and security rating was downgraded by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to Category 2 because of infrastructure deficiencies, including lapses in perimeter fencing and lack of security procedures, equipment and personnel.

According to the FAA, a Category 2 rating meant that the airport "does not provide safety oversight of its air carrier operators in accordance with the minimum safety oversight standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)." 'Laxity' in NAIA security hit

Senator Bong Revilla, chair of the Congressional Oversight Committee on the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, criticized the supposed "laxity" in the security measures inside the NAIA, which he said justifies the downgrade status given by the US Federal Aviation Administration and the blacklisting of the European Aviation.

In a statement, Revilla specifically cited the non-operational CCTV camera in the baggage carousel area of the NAIA Terminal 3 and the airport security personnel's alleged mishandling of the incident.

"Both parties could have been pacified and there could havve been no injuries if only the airport security personnel acted promptly and properly. What made it worse is the non-functional CCTV camera that could have helped determine who made the first violent move," he said.

He also criticized the alleged series of blunders by local airline companies, like the off-loading of luggage and the delay, cancellation, and overbooking of some flights.

Revilla said he himself experienced the "disorderly" procedures of a local airline company when he recently went to Boracay to speak in the convention of the Confederation of Non-Stock Savings and Loan Associations, Inc.

"Mauunawaan naman natin kung delayed ang flight, pero hindi yata maganda na ililipat ka ng point of destination. Imbes na sa Caticlan Airport, sa Kalibo Airport ka babagsak na halos dalawang oras papuntang Caticlan kung saan ka magbabangka pa patungong Boracay. "Paano kung may appointment ka at dapat mong makarating ng takdang oras? Paano na iyong susundo sa iyo na alam ay Caticlan Aiport ka pupunta at sa ganoong oras? Ang ginawa natin ay naghagilap tayo ng private plane para hindi tayo mapahiya sa kausap natin," he said.

Revilla, who also chairs the Senate committee on public services, said he will monitor the actions that will be taken by the CAAP to address the alleged slip-ups of the airline companies and the NAIA management. — with Carmela Lapeña and Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ/HS, GMA News

Tags: angelhonrado, miaa, naia, montulfo, raymartsantiago