A couple of friends who returned to their home base abroad recently complained about the newly-revived shoe removal policy at the NAIA Terminals.
According to them, the system is very unsanitary and unhygienic.
Wearing open-toe pumps, they walked barefoot on the rug where countless others did the same. They shudder at the thought of how many feet left their sweat, dirt, fungus and who knows what else on the same rug they walked on before passing through the detector.
They put their shoes on the tray along with their jackets, shawls and cellphones that they removed from their packets, which undergoes screening. After passing through, they took back their things including their shoes. They returned the tray and had to wait in line since there were just a few chairs placed at the end of the screening area where passengers may put their shoes back on.
As they waited, my friends observed that the rug and the used trays are not at all disinfected. This means that the dirt left behind by the countless feet that walked on the rug and shoes put on the tray do not only remain there but even multiply by the seconds.
It is not only that. Jackets, caps, shawls, bags and cellphones that you put on the tray pick up the dirt left behind by the pair of shoes that were put there by the passengers ahead of you. Can you imagine all the kinds of dirt that shoes step on?
If the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) will implement something like this, it should have thought about it carefully. First, there was confusion when the implementation came ahead of the order.
Second, the OTS should provide plastic bags where the passengers may put their shoes before placing them on the tray, and these plastic bags must be for single use only.
Third, they should at least disinfect the rug and the tray in the absence of plastic bags after every use.
Not only is the entire system unsanitary it also poses health hazards.
Another thing. The OTS should also put into consideration the very limited chairs where passengers may sit and put their shoes back on. Can you imagine if several flights, especially those using jumbo jets, will have to leave almost at the same time? How many hundreds will have to wait for chairs to get vacant? It’s like a game of musical chairs or ‘trip to Jerusalem.’
Longtime airport stakeholders said that previously, shoe removal is done only during SECO 3 or security condition 3. This is the highest level of SECO meaning, there is a serious or verified threat. But before SECO 3 is issued, there will have to be a lot of coordination, vetting and thorough validation with the intel community like the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and the like.
As of this writing, our airports are merely in SECO 1, the lowest level. Supposedly too, the Manila International Airport Authority and the Aviation Security Group jointly issue the SECO. The AVSEGROUP, specifically, is included because its mandate is to protect airports against acts of unlawful interference such as bombing, hijacking, etc.
The airport oldtimers also said that during the previous administrations, passengers are made to stand on a platform so that their shoes get to be included in the detection process of the walk-through detectors. Once the detector is triggered, the passenger goes right back this time to remove his shoes, belt, etcetera and then pass through the detector again.
I can also imagine the inconvenience that the shoe removal policy brings to senior citizens and persons with disability.
The shoe removal policy practically rendered useless the efforts put forth by the MIAA in removing the initial security screening areas, precisely to give the passengers the utmost convenience and seamless travel experience especially now that the volume of travelers are swiftly picking up toward pre-pandemic levels.
The OTS policy is ill-timed, since the decision of the MIAA to remove the initial screening was hailed by passengers, amid the hassle brought on by flight delays, cancellations and long lines at the immigration.
According to the OTS, “under the National Civil Aviation Security Program, only the President, Vice President, Heads of States and persons as requested by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) shall be exempt” from the shoe removal policy.
The portion ‘persons as requested” by the DFA kinda leaves a grey area. Anyone can be exempted and easily, the OTS may say the DFA requested so. Just saying.
This also means that Senators, Congressmen, mayors and even cabinet and Malacanang officials must remove their shoes when utilizing the airports. Ditto with officials from law enforcements agencies and of course, the personnel from the AVSEGROUP, Airport Police and even airport officials and the OTS personnel themselves.
This we have to see implemented to the letter.
***
Joke (from Jonathan Vicente of Sta. Cruz, Laguna)
Juan: Saan ka galing, pare?
Pedro: Sementeryo, libing ng biyenan ko eh.
Juan: Eh bakit puro kamot ang mukha at braso mo?
Pedro: Mahirap ilibing eh…
Juan: Bakit?
Pedro: Eh kasi, lumalaban! ***
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