Speaker condemns ‘shameful’ theft at NAIA involving gov’t security personnel
“NAKAKAHIYA at nakakagalit.”
This is how Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez reacted to the incident at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport wherein few personnel of the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) caught stealing money from Thai tourist.
According to Romualdez he will recommend to Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista the replacement of all OTS personnel at the airport with honest and professional ones.
A meeting between Romualdez and officials of the DoTR is scheduled this coming week to discuss the incident at NAIA which has become a national embarrassment.
“Paano tayo makakahikayat ng mga turista sa ating bansa kung mga magnanakaw ang ilang mga nagbabantay sa airport natin,” a very disappointed Speaker said.
“Attracting tourists should be a priority, and an incident such as this does not help us in encouraging visitors to our country,” Romualdez added.
Nevertheless, Romualdez proposed that DoTR should just allow OTS personnel with impeccable or good records to re-apply for their posts.
“It sounds a bit extreme, but circumstances call for extreme measures. If government personnel commits criminal acts against foreign visitors, the minute they landed at the airport, it says a lot about our country. So, it needs to be addressed sternly,” he said.
When re-applying, Romualdez said, qualifications of OTS personnel should be subjected to the highest standards of public service and, if necessary, subject them to a lie detector test and re-training as new recruits.
