Ninoy Aquino Airport Manila Security

Australian government Smart Traveller Advisory

Latest update
This advice has been reviewed. On 26 December the United States Department of Homeland Security issued a notification stating that Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) in Manila, Philippines is failing to meet international standards for security. The level of advice has not changed. Exercise a high degree of caution in the Philippines overall.

 

No surprises there I think.

 

Well, kinda 'no big deal', as doesn't say what the insufficiency is -- could be just that NAIA doesn't make people take their shoes off at the scanners, or other such nonsense that the US pointlessly enforces.

NAIA is one of the world's worst major airports, anyway, and I avoid it if i can. Jason uses Clark if possible; I have turned to Cebu and had a better experience this time. Dunno why the Phil Gov doesn't make a huge rapid investment to raise NAIA up to snuff, as Phil's econ depends on tourism...... I wish that they would. Including a shuttle-train from terminals to at least Ermita, Makati and Quezon!!!

 

A reason could be they no longer find bullets in check-in or carry-on luggage as there was a period they did almost daily.

 

or it's possible that the Australian government take offense to the Philippines lack of racial profiling or their ignorance in the racism stakes, and tend to be most most welcoming to foreigners of all colour and races

 

The difference between Manila and say Sydney airport is at Manila terminal 3 you get the extra security search at the gate where you are patted down by staff and your carry on is thoroughly checked.

They did mention something about staff levels and the need for retraining of security officers who have been there a while.

Sent from my Go Connect Lite 2 using Tapatalk

 

Interesting comments above, which i read carefully.. Or as i replied to a friend on farcebook earlier today who asked me about the advisory:

<<There are three possibilities,

(1) that NAIA (Nino Aquino Int Airprt) is actually lax, but i've been thru there half a dozen times in the last 3 yrs, and it strikes me not unlike JFK or SFO. Maybe just a minor technicality. Nationwide travel advisories are PRIMARILY political. Can you imagine the US EVER issuing an advisory for Heathrow or de Gaulle or Fiumicino ??

(2) The US is pissed at Duterte because he says the US is never serious about protecting the Philippines from China, where US corporations do their manufacturing. There is some truth to the report the US forced the Philippines to back off of defending Scarborough in April 2012. The last "US advisory" was during a very similar disagreement.

(3) SOMEBODY didn't pay SOMEBODY ELSE off. The US's TSA team could easily be as or more corrupt than the Philippine bureaucracy. (Just study the building departments of most major US cities)... >>>

The answer is probably a combo of all 3, with number 2 the most probable in my warped cynical skeptical view. There is some terrorist activity in the country, but nothing like Europe, and the locals trust the government enough to report it (bohol 2017) and the Police are competent and honest enough (at least a lot of them are) to defeat it (small skirmishes in the central visayas, but less than gang wars in LA). Marawi and other activity is pretty much limited to Mindinao, which has NOTHING to do with NAIA. As a foreigner, I would be very careful going to Mindinao, but then i wouldn't go to rural kentucky or militia areas of Idaho or parts of chicago either.