US security extremely concerned over missing Malaysian jet

US Homeland Security officials are scrambling to find out what happened to the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 jet that suddenly vanished into thin air last Friday. As of this writing, flight MH370 is still missing with reports that oil slicks in South China Sea have been spotted by Vietnamese search planes but so far, no wreckage has been found in the area.

Several of the 239 passengers are Americans and the word we got is that the US is really worried about the security implications of the incident, and the worst nightmare is if it would later be discovered that the plane has fallen into the hands of terrorists.  Although US Homeland Security officials were cautious in their statements and no group has come forward as of press time, sources say there are strong indications of a possible terrorist hand after the discovery that at least two of the passengers were traveling with stolen passports.

FBI agents and technical experts have been sent, while a warship and a surveillance plane have also been dispatched to help in the multinational search efforts that have yielded nothing so far. A team from the US National Transportation Safety Board has also flown to Malaysia since the missing plane is a Boeing 777 – considered as one of the safest aircraft in the world.

Malaysian authorities also disclosed that military radar indicated that the missing jet that was bound for Beijing may have tried to turn back to Kuala Lumpur. What is also puzzling is that there was no distress signal sent if indeed the plane was experiencing flight difficulties. Neither was there any request for clearance to turn back.

As an American congressman noted, the circumstances – passengers with stolen passports, a planeload of people disappearing – definitely raise a red flag. Intelligence agency networks around the world are checking for any “chatter” that might be connected to the incident. Authorities are investigating why passengers with stolen passports were able to board since major airlines should have a list of lost or stolen passports provided by the Interpol. US sources also disclosed that passenger manifests are cross-checked against intel/security lists if the flight includes a leg that lands or departs in the US. Unfortunately for flight MH370, it did not have a US route in its flight itinerary.

PH Category 2 still in place

I guess we now know why the US FAA is very strict in implementing international safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for flights going in and out of the US – slapping Category 2 ratings to countries that are found to be non-compliant, including the Philippines that received a downgrade in 2008. The FAA conducted an audit towards the latter part of January and Transportation officials have been optimistically issuing statements saying they expect the US government to make an announcement – supposedly an upgrade to Category 1 – a month after the audit, but as of March 7, the Philippines remains at Category 2 per the latest update from the FAA’s International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) Program.

The ball is definitely still in the court of the Philippine Civil Aviation authorities to make sure that the “critical elements” under the checklist of safety requirements that FAA had been monitoring are sufficiently addressed, among them “primary aviation legislation” wherein the CAAP has not complied with Article 37 of the Chicago Convention specifically on the approach ban provision. This is one of the bottlenecks that have kept the country from getting an upgrade – and it looks like a Category 1 rating is not going to happen anytime soon.

China declares war

At the start of the National People’s Congress, the Chinese government announced a substantial increase in their military spending and now, officials have declared war – that is, against pollution.  Chinese Premier Li Keqiang himself has acknowledged that pollution has become a very big problem in his country and is threatening GDP growth, not to mention the lives of citizens. 

Out of 74 cities monitored by China’s Environmental Protection Ministry, 71 have failed to meet air quality standards, with Beijing described by environmental scientists as “almost unfavorable for human living.” The terrible smog across many cities is being blamed for premature deaths in China estimated at half a million every year, according to an article in the Lancet medical journal, with reports that Chinese life expectancy has been reduced by an average of 5.5 years due to the air pollution, a lot of it coming from millions of vehicles spewing toxic fumes as well as the thousands of small coal-fired power plants scattered in many cities all over the country. 

Authorities are threatening “harsher punishment” for violators, but they are also offering incentives totaling $1.6 billion to cities and regions that show significant progress in the fight against pollution. Aside from lower energy consumption, the government is looking at alternative energy sources and has disclosed plans to shut down 50,000 small coal-fired furnaces. Unfortunately, it seems that another plan to combat air pollution is to outsource the smog by transferring the power plants to the western regions in China, mostly inhabited by minorities – with the reports triggering outrage from residents.

The fact is, China has been “exporting” the pollution to Asian countries as well as the US West Coast, with reports saying as much as 24 percent of sulfate concentrations in America came from China. That’s definitely one Chinese product nobody wants to buy.

Spy tidbit

Our friend, former US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry K. Thomas, is getting married this Saturday to his Filipina girlfriend, Ms. Mithi Aquino. Like the true Jesuit trained alumnus that he is, Ambassador Thomas has requested Fr. Freddie Balinog, a Jesuit priest from Baguio and now teaching at Fordham University to officiate at the wedding ceremonies to be held at the Blessed Sacrament Church in New York. The reception will be at the Lotos Club in Manhattan. 

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