27-9-2023 (MANILA) Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista has disclosed that 19 personnel from the Office for Transportation Security (OTS), an agency affiliated with the Department of Transportation (DOTr), have been terminated from their positions since July 2022 for their involvement in theft from airline passengers.
During the Senate deliberations regarding the DOTr’s budget request of P214 billion for 2024, Bautista revealed that the agency had conducted investigations into a total of 60 theft cases at airports, all involving OTS employees.
One of the most recent incidents occurred on September 8 at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, where a security camera captured an OTS screener purportedly consuming US$300 in bills that had allegedly been stolen from a Chinese tourist. This incident was widely circulated in a viral video, further tarnishing the reputation of the country’s primary international gateway, which had previously been labeled as one of the world’s worst airports by a vacation rental management firm.
