Airport authorities said on Thursday that they see no reason to investigate the complaints of some Filipino workers who reported the theft of their valuables following their deportation from Saudi Arabia.
In a statement, the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) took note of the viral video posted by Andrew Montes on social media.
Montes, one of several deported Filipino workers, claimed he lost his phone, watches, rings, bracelets and 3,000 Saudi riyals (around P42,000) which he had placed in his check-in luggage.
No hand-carry luggage
According to him, Saudi immigration policemen did not allow him and his fellow deportees to bring any hand-carry luggage into the plane. Instead, they were ordered to put all their valuables into their check-in bags.
“I had my luggage secured with a lock. My valuables were placed inside a backpack that was [sealed] with packaging tape. I also placed that backpack inside a bigger backpack to make it more safe,” Montes said.
But when he arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 1 on Nov. 17 from Jeddah via Saudi’s flag carrier, Saudia, the smaller backpack was no longer inside the bigger one and his valuables were nowhere to be found. However, he could not say if these were taken in Jeddah or in Manila.
Miaa said in a statement that based on its coordination with the airline ground handler, “it was learned that footage taken from body cameras of their ramp agents revealed that there were no noticeable irregularities or mishandling of baggage that would warrant a probe [of] the allegation of Montes that their bags were tampered with at Naia.”
Airline not liable
Worse, Saudia also informed Montes that it could not be held liable for the missing valuables since he did not declare them.
At the same time, Miaa General Manager Ed Monreal advised Montes “to exercise care in using social media,” saying that “baseless accusations do not help the country.”
The Civil Aviation Board (CAB), on the other hand, confirmed that Montes went to its office on Nov. 20 to ask for help but left without filing a formal complaint.
This was after he was told that “airlines have standard operating procedures to observe and that compensation for loss of valuable items is subject to proper declaration during check-in.”