‘…I see it as a muted testament to the fact that we distrust our processes and even ourselves.
At almost every step of the way we suspect that there is someone who is not supposed to be there and so we check.’
A FEW days ago, I departed Butuan for Manila. My flight was at 7 a.m. via PAL so I got up at around 4 a.m., prepared, and got to the airport by 5ish. At the airport, a security guard posted outside the terminal building asked to see my ticket and government ID before allowing me to proceed to the X-ray machine at the entrance of the terminal.
Past the X-ray machine I was able to check in and proceeded to the departure area. Before getting there another security guard asked to see my ID and my boarding pass. Then the X-ray and the wait. Thankfully, the plane from Manila arrived on time (despite the inclement weather) and soon it was boarding time.
Again, I had to show my boarding pass and ID.
The experience is the same even when I travel out of the country. When I get to the airport (usually Terminal 1 or 2) a security guard is at the door asking to see everyone’s paper or electronic tickets and IDs. Only then are you allowed to proceed to the X-ray machine and the check-in counter. Then it’s on to Immigration where you show your boarding pass and passport, and you do this again at the boarding gate.
What’s unique about the Philippine air travel experience is the security guard at every airport entrance who checks your papers. No such thing in places like Singapore or Bangkok or Tokyo — where you get to the airport by bus, car or train, and proceed, undisturbed, to the airline check-in counters. No private or government security personnel before that. No need to provide a favored party a contract for security services, I suppose?
The same applies to the security checks on vehicles as you approach the terminals — terminals 1 and 2 in Manila, and most of the domestic ones. There’s a guard or two at an outpost who stop vehicles entering the premises to inquire about the passengers and give the vehicle a once over. Are they thorough? Far from it; oftentimes, if the driver is a familiar face, they just wave the driver through.
Do they do this in Tokyo or Singapore or Bangkok? Nope. Are their airports less secure than ours as a result? Maybe.
Or maybe not.
But why do we have all these blue guards at our airports? What interests do they serve? I suppose they keep our check-in counters from being overrun by hordes of relatives who accompany a departing Filipino — imagine if we allow anyone to get in, as they do in Singapore and Tokyo and Bangkok? That’s a clear benefit of having documents checked outside the door.
But beyond that there’s no additional benefit — and I see it as a muted testament to the fact that we distrust our processes and even ourselves. At almost every step of the way we suspect that there is someone who is not supposed to be there and so we check. But how can that unauthorized person be able to access areas where he is not allowed to be in the first place unless we are not confident that our processes and safeguards work? And because we know that in a country like the Philippines there are people who throw their weight around to go around such processes and even safeguards — and get away with it?
Think about it: It’s a matter (if not a culture) of distrust, isn’t it?
