In December 2013, Mayor Ukol Talumpa of Labangan town in Zamboanga del Sur, his wife and two persons standing nearby including a year-old baby were shot dead by two men on a motorcycle as they stood outside the arrival area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3.
Talumpa’s daughter pointed to his political rival, former Labangan mayor Wilson “Kitty” Nandang, as the brains behind the ambush, and identified a certain Marrox Amlong, described as Nandang’s henchman, as the killer. Video footage from a closed-circuit television camera would have helped pin down the gunman, but Terminal 3 of the nation’s premier airport did not have one.
Today the NAIA-3 still lacks CCTVs outside the arrival area amid legal wrangling among suppliers of the device. The Centennial Terminal 2 and NAIA-1 have CCTVs. As a recent incident showed, however, the CCTV can be almost useless.
Last week when boxing champion Manny Pacquiao returned to the country from his successful bout with Timothy Bradley, his brother Roel, who was part of the Pacquiao entourage, lost a balikbayan box at the arrival area of the NAIA-1.
CCTV footage showed the box moving along the baggage carousel before it was picked up and carted off by a man, who could not be identified because the footage was blurred. Even if the box had been picked up by mistake, it will probably no longer be returned. The box reportedly contained wristwatches, cameras, iPhones and other expensive items.
The loss is just a drop in the bucket for the enormously wealthy Pacquiaos, but even billionaires do not relish being victimized by thieves. Losing a balikbayan box is a big deal for ordinary people, and it can be heartbreaking for many overseas Filipino workers. CCTVs were developed precisely to discourage such losses at airports, but this most basic security equipment is inadequate in the nation’s busiest airport.
The absence of CCTVs outside the NAIA-3 is good news not just for thieves but also, as Talumpa’s case showed, to assassins. These days, even houses are protected by CCTVs, which can be easily obtained at shopping malls. The inadequacy of CCTVs at the NAIA is just the latest blot on the airport that has developed a reputation for being among the world’s worst.