If you’re headed to the Philippines, be careful.
The United States has issued a travel warning to the Republic of the Philippines due to security issues at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the main international airport for travelers in the Southeast Asian country. Located in the capital city of Manila, the airport admits that they don’t have proper security personnel.
The airport said in a statement that they “do not maintain and carry out effective security consistent with the security standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization. This determination was based on assessments by a team of security experts from the Transportation Security Administration.”
The advisory comes at one of the busiest travel times of the year in the Philippines.
Right away, Homeland Security is instructing airlines who are issuing tickets between the U.S. and Ninoy Aquino to notify passengers in writing of the issue. The advisory is also to be displayed for everyone to see at all U.S. airports who regularly fly to Ninoy Aquino. TSA representatives have been working diligently with the Philippine government to help airport and transportation authorities get the proper international security standards to Ninoy Aquino. They will continue to help them fix the problems and assess security measures.
“These corrective actions are expected to be in place by the second quarter of 2019,” Philippine Consul General to Guam Marciano R. de Borja said.
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De Borja said the new security measures that involve new equipment. Philippine agencies have also ramped up on manual interventions at the Manila airport, including additional Manila International Airport Authority guards being posted 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The general counsel is sure that the advisory won’t put a damper on the interest of U.S. citizens traveling to the country.
This year, from January to August, the United States was the third largest market of tourist for the Philippines.