Naia eyes deployment of own traffic aides

THE MANILA International Airport Authority (MIAA) will soon be fielding its own traffic enforcers to ease vehicular flow on roads within the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) complex.

The MIAA assistant general manager for security and emergency services, Jesus Gordon Descanzo, said that he was planning to do a test run of the project with 36 personnel initially at Naia Terminal 3.

“We are still in the process of accepting applicants interested in becoming traffic aides,” Descanzo added.

But he said that his security personnel were still trying to determine if MIAA could undertake the project’s test run by next month or early next year since the traffic personnel would need to undergo training first.

Descanzo said that the traffic aides would be limited to the terminal areas to ensure that motorists abide by the two-minute rule on the unloading and loading of passengers to avoid blocking the driveway.

They would also help clear terminal roads of public utility vehicles which illegally pick up or drop off passengers.

“They will primarily be concerned with ensuring [the orderly flow of vehicles] in the terminals,” he told the Inquirer, adding that major roads outside the terminals would remain in the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and local government traffic enforcers.

While airport terminal traffic also falls within the responsibility of security guards and personnel of the Airport Police Department, Descanzo said the traffic aides would provide them additional support.

The ultimate goal, however, would be to turn over traffic chores to the newly deployed traffic aides to enable the security forces to concentrate on securing Naia, a source said.