Manila, Phillippines ? Two armed men, including a former air transport official, tried to seize a Manila airport control tower before dawn today and were killed in a gunfight with airport security officers.

Former Air Transport Office chief Panfilo Villaruel and another armed man entered the airport control tower office at Ninoy Aquino International Airport shortly before midnight, said airport security chief Angelo Atutubo.

Villaruel was motivated by a “personal grievance,” said Ignacio Bunye, spokesman for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who praised the “fast and effective” response by authorities.

The airport security chief said authorities tried to persuade Villaruel to surrender but he refused, and the two men were killed in a gunfight with police.

“To prevent the disruption of airport operations and flights, we decided to do something,” Atutubo told ABS-CBN television.

In a radio interview before the police stormed the tower, Villaruel expressed despair over government corruption and what he described as the aimless drift of the country.

“Despite all my efforts to call the attention of the Congress, the Senate and the military no one listens, so now maybe they will listen,” he said. “I am not here to grab power. I just want to tell you that the Philippines will not go anywhere.”