‘Smuggler’ earlier lauded for honesty

FOUR MONTHS ago, airport security screening officer Gerald Ford Bravo was cited for honesty in returning a passenger’s bag containing $5,500 (P262,300).

Now Bravo has been asked by the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) to explain why he should not be sacked after he was caught while allegedly trying to smuggle 47 endangered animals through the international cargo terminal (ICT) of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

OTS spokesperson Miguel Oraa Tuesday said even if Bravo had been preventively suspended, he was being given due process in the administrative case of grave misconduct against him.

“We gave him 72 hours to explain why he should not be dismissed,” Oraa said.

Bravo has been in the service since 2007. He was last assigned at the Naia Terminal 3.

Last week joint teams of the Bureau of Customs, the National Bureau of Investigation, the environment department and the Aviation Security Group conducted a sting operation against Bravo based on information from the Japanese Interpol.

Bravo was caught allegedly trying to send a cargo of five styrofoam boxes containing 11 tarsiers, 11 snakes, 11 monitor lizards, 8 Sailfin lizards, three Scops owls and three Philippine Eagle owls, to a recipient in Japan.

The boxes were supposed to contain plant species of the Amazon Sword and the Elephant Ear Taro based on a permit from the Bureau of Plant Industry.

Bravo has been charged by the justice department with violation of the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act.

Last September, Bravo was cited by the OTS for his honesty when he found and returned a bag containing $5,500 at a security screening checkpoint of the Naia Terminal 4. The bag was returned to its owner, a Cebu-bound passenger.

To stem illegal acts and prevent collusion of OTS personnel with unscrupulous airport workers, Oraa said the OTS last December launched a monthly rotation of screening officers. The process is now under review.

There are nearly 800 OTS security screening officers at the four Naia terminals. The OTS only sets a minimum requirement of 72 academic units in college for applicants to the post. No experience or eligibility is required.