FOUR personnel of the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) have been found “guilty of stealing” in the administrative investigation conducted by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) into the cash-swallowing incident at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said in an interview that the OTS officers, who were not identified, include the female security screener who was caught on CCTV footage swallowing the $300 bills allegedly stolen from a Chinese passenger, and three other accomplices.
Bautista said the four will be dismissed “following due process.”
He said a review of the videos from different angles showed how the money was taken from the bag of the traveler. He did not give additional details.
“Ang sinasabi sa imbestigasyon ay guilty (ang screener) na pera (ang sinubo). Although ang sinasabi nga ng babae ay chocolate daw, mayroon siyang affidavit, pero ang nakita ng mga imbestigador, guilty siya (The investigation showed that the screener was guilty of swallowing money. While she said that she was eating a chocolate, she submitted an affidavit stating that, but probers saw that she was guilty),” Bautista said.
He also said: “Apat kasi ‘yung nakita natin dito na may talagang ginawa sa CCTV… Ang result ay hindi pa lumalabas officially (pero) parang lumalabas na talagang nakita na mayroon silang pagkakasala (Investigators saw on CCTV that the four officers did something wrong. The result of the probe has not been officially released but it shows that the four are guilty).”
He said more OTS accomplices might be identified once a criminal investigation is conducted into the incident.
Last week, Bautista directed the OTS to file the necessary charges against the security screening personnel involved in the September 8 incident, which happened at the NAIA Terminal 1.
He authorized the imposition of the “maximum penalty” on those who will be found guilty to demonstrate the DOTr’s determined push to rid NAIA and other attached agencies of scalawags.
REFORMS
Sen. Grace Poe yesterday said the courtesy resignation of OTS administrator Undersecretary Ma-o Aplasca will not get rid of corrupt airport personnel.
Poe said what the OTS needs is an overhaul to “implement much-needed reforms.”
“A resignation at the top does not clean up its ranks. More than ever, the Office for Transportation Security needs steady leadership to implement much-needed reforms. Hindi lang dapat umaaksyon kapag tapos na ang insidente (We should not act each time every after an incident). There should be zero tolerance for criminal acts and unprofessional behavior,” Poe said in a statement.
Aplasca submitted his courtesy resignation to President Marcos Jr. and Bautista on Tuesday, hours after he went on a leave of absence pending the outcome of the investigation into the incident involving the OTS security screener.
OTS Deputy Administrator Assistant Secretary Jose Briones Jr. will temporarily serve as officer-in-charge.
Aplasca quit his post after House Speaker Martin Romualdez threatened to block the proposed 2024 budgets of the OTS and the DOTr if he does not resign.
Romualdez said Aplasca failed to stop illegal activities in his office.
Poe said that “while a witch hunt might put a syndicate on pause, the OTS urgently needs to review and tighten its security program.”
“The OTS must improve its system at the point of hiring, review its recruitment policies, and enforce ethics training. Employees must undergo extensive background checks. In the long-term, we should also look into providing better compensation and benefits to these employees so they would not be enticed to do this nonsense,” she said.
“Our airports should improve the physical layout of the security screening stations and (carry out) proactive measures to prevent any further incidents,” she also said.
She noted that as of July 2023, more than half of the OTS manpower are still contractual personnel, with only 475 with permanent status.
“The permanent solution is still to give security of tenure and increase the salary of highly skilled technical personnel in our airports,” she said.
Aplasca, in an ABS-CBN interview, said that the OTS has dismissed several employees under its internal cleaning program,
“We have investigated 68 administrative cases all in all. We have dismissed 11 (personnel),” he said. — With Raymond Africa
