Tulfo suggests eagles to capture drones that threaten airports

MANILA -- How safe are Philippine airports from drones that may be used for attacks?  

This was the question of Senator Raffy Tulfo during the hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Services on Tuesday.  

“Yung isang tao dito sa open category, bibili siya ng drone malaki. Kargahan niya ng bomba, granada, papaliparin niya sa airport natin, sa eroplano. Babanggain yung eroplano or mayroon siyang specific target halimbawa sa military installation na papasabugun. So paano natin mapigilan yun?” Tulfo asked.  

“Kaya nabanggit ko 'to, ginamit 'to sa Ukraine and Russia war di ba? Drone to drone, kinakargahan ng bomba. Kanya-kanyang pasabugan. And there is a possibility na puwedeng gamitin ng terrorista ito sa atin. For a specific target. So nobody is safe,” he added. 

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 The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) agreed on the Senator’s observation. 

“The drone is a loaded gun. It can be used for peace and it could be used for otherwise,” Captain Ian Michael Del Castillo, CAAP Division head, said. 

 According to TACTICS SOG Industries, Inc. President and Chief Operating Officer Billy Pascua, a counter-drone may be used. 

 “It basically cuts off the signal between the controller and the drone,” Pascua explained. 

Castillo pointed out, however, that the technology is still expensive. 

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 “There is this one subscription based anti-drone, a million dollars a month,” Castillo said. “How can we effectively propose such a budget that will not be preposterous number one for the acquisition of the equipment, number two is the subscription fee, and number three the maintenance of the said equipment?” he asked. 

Castillo added that other countries focus more on crafting regulations such as implementing a four kilometer restricted zone around an airport; in the Philippines, the distance is 10 kilometers. 

Pascua said other “innovative” measures can also be used such as using trained birds to catch drones.

 CAAP said it will look into this.  

“CAAP please mag-train na tayo ng mga eagles siguro. Marami tayong eagles di ba?” Tulfo said. “Mag-import tayo ng eagles sa ibang bansa.” 

 “Yes, your honor. We’ll look into that,” Castilo answered. 

He said the Department of National Defense (DND) should be included in the discussion in order to respond to possible terrorist activities.