PAL beefs up security after Zamboanga blast

By Katherine Evangelista
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:55:00 08/06/2010

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Airlines (PAL) has beefed up its security following the explosion outside the Zamboanga City International Airport Thursday evening that killed two people and injured Sulu Governor Abdusakur Tan and more than 20 others, the country’s flag-carrier said in a statement.

“Philippine Airlines has beefed up its security at Zamboanga Airport to ensure the safety of its passengers, following last night's suspected suicide bombing outside the airport terminal,” PAL said.
It said it has deployed additional explosive detecting dogs from the flag carrier’s exclusive K9 units at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2. Likewise, the PAL Security Office based in Manila has also alerted all its domestic stations to be extra vigilant on all forms of threats.
“PAL operations at Zamboanga remain normal, with a daily morning and evening flight to/from Manila, using the Airbus A320 aircraft,” the statement read, citing Lolito Galarrita, PAL's branch manager at Zamboanga.

The explosion happened at around 6 p.m. outside the arrival area of Zamboanga City airport. Two people were reported killed and 24 others were injured, including Governor Tan.

None of the victims were passengers of PAL, the airlines added.

“After the explosion, PAL and the Zamboanga PNP immediately secured the arriving passengers and the PAL airplane. After the aircraft departed back for Manila, the passengers who just arrived were moved to the pre-departure area until the whole terminal was cleared of any further security threat,” PAL said.

Nevertheless, PAL said that it would extend assistance to the 9th Police Center for Aviation Security (PCAS) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in their investigation.

Authorities have not yet identified any suspects but said that they were looking into the possibility that Tan may have been the target of the attack.