OTS was told to re-interview workers and properly screening job applicants

SF | OTS was told to re-interview workers and properly screening job applicants | MANILA – Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva and Senator Grace Poe asked the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Office of Transportation Security (OTS) to carefully check current employees and potential new hires to stop what they say are thefts by airport staff.

The politicians made the call after it was said that at least one OTS screening officer stole $300 from a passenger leaving Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 on September 8.

Villanueva also asked for a probe, the firing of the people responsible, and the filing of criminal charges against them.

“Kailangang alamin din kung mayroon syang kasabwat sa paggawa ng krimen para maputol na ang mafia ng masasamang-loob sa airport (We should also find out if the personnel has accomplices in committing the crime so we can dismantle the mafia of bad people in the airport),” Villanueva stated in a statement.

“Dapat magsagawa ng retraining at assessment sa mga airport personnel, at maging mapanuri sa pagtanggap ng aplikante para matiyak na hindi tayo nagpapasweldo sa mga kawatan (Airport personnel should also undergo retraining and assessment, and be critical in accepting applicants to make sure that we are not employing thieves),” he said.

Poe, on the other hand, hopes that the police can find out who was involved in the crime.

“May mga report pa na gawin ang OTS staff na gawin ito para hindi mahuli.” As the saying goes, “there are reports that the OTS staff was told to do it so they wouldn’t get caught.” “This means that the person has helpers,” Poe said in a different statement.

Poe, who is in charge of the Committee on Public Services, also asked the OTS to look at how it hires people and how it evaluates workers.

“We ask the airport security office to properly vet applicants and reinterview existing employees to determine their qualifications and evaluate their performance,” she stated.

Police say that Irency Morados, a security screening officer (SSO), tried to swallow the dollar bills she got from a foreign passenger’s bag. The report says that she “appeared to be in connivance” with two other SSOs.

The report said that the water bottle was given to Morados by a man named Abraham de Luna and an X-ray tech named Regino Allen Pollante. (via PNA)