MANILA, Philippines—Airport authorities are conducting an investigation to determine the identity of the man seen escorting Maria Ramona “Mara” Bautista when she left for Hong Kong Friday night.
Manila International Airport Authority general manager Jose Angel Honrado confirmed that Ramona, 22, one of the suspects in the killing of her brother Ramgen Bautista, boarded Cathay Pacific flight CX 902 bound for Hong Kong past 8 p.m.
However, it was not known if Ramona had a connecting flight from Hong Kong to another country. A staffer at the Cathay Pacific Airways office at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 told the Inquirer that they were not authorized to divulge the flight details of their passengers.
Both Honrado and an immigration officer, who refused to be identified as she was not authorized to speak to the media, said Ramona could not have been prevented from leaving the country because no hold departure order or any court order had been issued to that effect.
“Airport and immigration authorities, although aware of the fact that she was being implicated in a crime, could not do anything to prevent her because she had no HDO, she was not on the watch list,” Honrado said.
Honrado said he has ordered a review of the closed-circuit television footage of Ramona’s departure to identify who escorted her to her flight. He said he also ordered the preservation of the CCTV footage.
An initial check on the CCTV footage showed that Ramona appeared to have a companion only at the lobby of the departure area, the MIAA official said.
“The CCTV footage showed Ramona walking alone toward the terminal’s restricted area, so I doubt if the one who was seen with her was a NAIA personnel,” Honrado told the Inquirer.
“NAIA personnel could enter the restricted area. Based on this assumption, if Ramona had an escort, this escort is not likely a NAIA personnel,” he added.
A security officer at the airport said that based on the CCTV footage, a man whom he described to be a bit plump, of medium height and clad in what appears to be an office barong Tagalog, was seen at the Cathay Pacific counter at 6:46 p.m.
The man later left the area and was next spotted at the initial x-ray machine area meeting Ramona at 6:51 p.m.
With the man holding Ramona’s passport and boarding pass, they walked together toward the direction of the terminal fee counter area, the security officer said.
Next footage showed Ramona all by herself, passing through the final check at 7:29 p.m. From there, she walked toward the departure concourse en route to Gate 7, he said, adding that it was not clear in the footage if Ramona’s escort was wearing an identification card or a stick-on airport access pass.
A television footage showed Ramona appeared to be trying to conceal her identity by covering her face with a red shawl. She apparently did not check in any luggage but was photographed holding three hand-carried bags.