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Friday, March 29, 2024

2 OTS staffers caught stealing from Japanese

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The Office for Transportation Security, the controversial government unit, wherein a number of its personnel got involved in the so-called bullet planting scheme at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, is in the news again.

This time, two OTS personnel were accused of stealing money worth 1,700 Australian dollars from a Japanese national last Holy Wednesday.

Charged with qualified theft before the Pasay City prosecutors office were Stephen Bartolo and Demmie James Timtim, both OTS personnel assigned at the Naia Terminal 3.

Reports showed that the Japanese passenger—Yuya Sakata, 25, a resident of Fukuoka—arrived at the airport around 12:45 p.m. last Wednesday on board Cebu Pacific Air flight 5J40 from Sydney, Australia with a connecting flight to Cebu at 9:35 p.m. the same day.

The suspects were arrested after members of the Airport Police Department recovered 300 Australian dollars from their possession. One of them was also identified by the victim as the one who stole his money.

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The APD men also reviewed the closed-circuit television camera and found out that one of the suspects took out money from the victim’s wallet at the arrival entrance gate 2 where the foreigner entered prior to his connecting flight.

Bartolo admitted that he took some money from the wallet of Sakata while conducting a luggage search.

Manila International Airport Authority general manager Eddie Monreal immediately ordered the cancelation and revocation of the access passes of the two OTS men. He also directed his men to place the names of the suspects under the agency’s blacklist of personnel.

OTS personnel are responsible for the security screening of passengers and their baggage and cargoes at the airport.

In 2015, a number of OTS personnel were discovered to be involved in the “tanim-bala” or bullet planting scheme to extort money from unsuspecting passengers at the Naia.

Lawmakers alleged that there is a syndicate operating at the airport terminals victimizing passengers by planting bullets in their baggages.

Senator Nancy Binay had revealed that the modus are rampant in three major terminals since 2005.

She said employees of OTS, an attached agency of then Department of Transportation and Communications, are the ones allegedly responsible for the alleged irregularities.

Former OTS chief Rolando Recomono admitted that at least 65 personnel were already dismissed since 2012 but he clarified that those dismissed were acting on their own and were not part of a syndicate.

The government assured the public it is strictly implementing a new guideline to prevent irregularities at airport facilities.

All screening officers were also reminded of a “No Touch policy, which stated that only passengers are allowed to touch and inspect their belongings during screening procedures.

 

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