MANILA, Philippines - The mysterious disappearance of a Malaysian airplane over the weekend should prompt authorities to re-evaluate the country's security measures, Malacañang said Monday.
Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the Bureau of Immigration (BI) will surely see the unfortunate incident as a way of reviewing local procedures.
"Right now, I think our security measures are very strict, but certainly it gives us pause to look into our security measures again," Lacierda said at a televised press briefing.
The Boeing 777 passenger jet of the Malaysia Airlines has been missing since early Saturday morning during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
The plane lost contact with ground controllers somewhere between Malaysia and Vietnam and apparently fell from the sky at cruising altitude in fine weather.
The Associated Press reported that the pilots were either unable or had no time to send a distress signal, adding to the mystery over the final minutes of the flight.
On Saturday, the foreign ministries in Italy and Austria said the names of two citizens listed on the flight's manifest matched the names on two passports reported stolen in Thailand.
Lacierda said they will ask the BI the procedures concerning stolen passports.