Beyond shiny airports

An airport as the front door to a nation — a gleaming, high-tech gateway — is where first impressions are made. A door can be polished, reinforced, and fitted with the latest locks, but if the house itself has unguarded windows, a broken fence, and no alarm system, security is just an illusion.

This is where the Philippines stands today. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s recent tour of NAIA Terminal 3 — backed by a P170-billion modernization push — is a welcome step. The upgrades — eGates, seamless corridors, faster processing — are long overdue. But while we’re busy beautifying the doorway, are we forgetting the rest of the house?

More than just transit hubs, airports serve as national security checkpoints. Every day, people slip through our borders unnoticed — some overstay, some vanish, and some engage in crime. Sadly, our current system relies too much on manual checks, outdated databases, and overworked personnel.

A modern airport with slow, reactive immigration is like a sports car with a bicycle engine — it looks impressive but doesn’t perform when it matters.

Consider this: how many foreign criminals enter undetected? How many traffickers exploit the weak port security? How many overstayers vanish into the informal economy?

Let’s face it, our borders are porous. The problem isn’t just at NAIA. It is at Clark, Cebu, Davao, and crucially, our hundreds of seaports, not to mention the growing threat of cyber-based entry fraud. Criminals don’t just walk through the front door — they find the gaps.

In fact, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. The technology exists — we just need the political will to implement it.

Neither do we need magic. Screen before they land — why wait until someone is at the immigration counter to discover they’re on a global watchlist? Check passenger data against international security databases before the plane even touches down.

Like the phone does, embrace biometrics. If our smartphones unlock with our face or fingerprint, why can’t our vital border security? Real-time facial recognition, fingerprint and iris scans should be standard, speeding up the legitimate traveler while flagging risks.

Let AI spot the odd pattern. Unlike humans that get tired, computers don’t. AI can instantly flag suspicious activity — such as someone buying a last-minute one-way ticket with cash after frequent, short hops between high-risk countries.

Connect the dots: immigration, police, BIFFA, and Interpol must share data in real time. If a drug runner is flagged as leaving Bangkok, Manila needs to be notified before he arrives.

There is no shutting doors here — just knowing who is walking through them. Countries like the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and the US utilize smart borders to strike a balance between openness and security. The Philippines can do the same.

The first step has already been taken. Now we must go further and build modern airports and intelligent borders because a nation’s safety depends on more than just a pretty facade.

The world is watching. Who will we let in?