Question & AnswerQ&A (LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 961)
The main responsibility of the AVSECOM is to protect the airline industry by ensuring continued and uninterrupted operations through maintaining peace and order within airport complexes and securing all airports against offensive and terroristic acts that threaten civil aviation.
No, AVSECOM shall not interfere or involve itself in the management of the airport or the enforcement and/or supervision of customs, immigration, and quarantine activities. It must confine itself to its primary responsibility of security.
The LOI directs AVSECOM to minimize the unnecessary display of firearms and exposure of uniformed personnel to the public, except for technicians operating security devices to monitor incoming and outgoing passengers and cargo.
AVSECOM is directed to withdraw from the MIA Terminal Building but shall maintain reaction units in alert stations that can respond to emergencies quickly.
The key officials addressed are the Minister of National Defense, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Justice, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), and the Director General of the National Intelligence Security Authority (NISA).
All such personnel not in the actual performance of their duties are not allowed in the arrival and departure areas to maintain security and order.
It emphasizes the maintenance of reaction units in alert stations capable of responding to emergencies within the shortest possible time.
LOI No. 961 references LOI No. 399 dated April 28, 1976, for the creation of the National Action Committee on Anti-Hijacking (NACAH).
LOI No. 961 legally mandates AVSECOM to assume security responsibility at airports, limiting other agencies' interference, and sets policies on how law enforcement and security personnel operate within the airport environment.
The LOI was signed by President Ferdinand E. Marcos on November 22, 1979.