Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) General Manager Maj. Gen. Angelo Honrado (ret) assured on Tuesday that there will be no jobs lost at the airport following the suspension of the Meet and Assist Service (MAS) program for paying passengers at the country's premiere airport.

As a result of the suspension, close to 200 airport staff assigned with the Public Assistance Division have expressed concern of losing their jobs.

"I don't foresee any jobs lost at the airport," said Honrado when asked what will happen to the dozens of MAS staff who are stationed at the three NAIA terminals.

Honrado suspended indefinitely the MAS program for paying passengers to shield the airport staff from being used by syndicates in human smuggling activities as well as other crimes.

Honrado explained that with the previous MAS program, a passenger can avail himself of the airport service, which speeds up his arrival or departure procedures, by paying an P800 fee. Using the MAS program, a passenger will be assisted by an airport staff through Immigration and Customs clearances using a special lane.

"With the old system, we don't have any way of screening the people who avail of the service. Anyone with P800 can avail of the service," Honrado said.

The airport chief said enterprising individuals have offered the MAS service to other passengers for a higher fee. They also believe that syndicates could have used the service for illegal purposes.

According to Honrado, they suspended the MAS to prevent the service from being abused by enterprising syndicates, and inevitably exposing the airport staff to possible criminal offenses when they are just doing their jobs.

"We are currently reviewing the current MAS processes to determine who can avail of the service," Honrado said.

As of now, the MAS is still available but only for the President, Vice President, Senate President and other ranking government officials.

Honrado assured that port courtesies will still be extended to the disabled, the elderly and women with children.

Meanwhile, Honrado encouraged everyone to undergo the processes of immigration and customs clearing at the airport on their own saying that, "it is not demeaning to do so."