Manila to finance posting of marshals on domestic flights

The Philippine government has agreed to finance the posting of air marshals on 300 domestic flights, due to the refusal of the local airline companies to share the cost.

Arroyo's move was in "response to the recommendation of the Aviation Security Command which complained that they were not getting enough cooperation from the private domestic airlines due to operational and financial reasons," said National Security Council head, Roilo Golez.

Arroyo has set aside a budget for the purchase of guns and ammunition for the air marshals who are trained to arrest hijackers, noted Golez.

"The private airline companies said they did not want to spend on seats to be occupied by air marshals," said Golez.

He added that they had agreed to accept air marshals only when the government proposed shouldering the cost of beefed up security.

Golez did not say if the airline companies also asked for the payment of the seats to be occupied by the air marshals.

The airline companies recently asked for higher air fares, saying they have to incur higher insurance payment in their business.

A day after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington DC on April 11, the Aviation Security Group (ASG) recommended that air marshals should be deployed on board domestic Philippine Airlines flights.

But the PAL management has not given their full cooperation in the matter, citing operational and financial reasons. Other companies followed suit.

The Air Transportation Office (ATO) and the ASG were directed to review and consider other security measures and to propose administrative and legislative measures to enhance civil aviation security.