Clark International Airport in Pampanga
(File photo by TONETTE OREJAS / Inquirer Central Luzon)
Six employees of a ground handling firm assigned at the Clark International Airport were ordered suspended and would face administrative charges for their alleged involvement in a luggage theft incident that has gone viral on Facebook.
“Six suspects who are employees of MIASCOR were placed under preventive suspension for the pilferage of the luggage of one Jovenil Dela Cruz of Pandi, Bulacan whose experience was posted in Facebook and went viral,” Clark airport acting president Alexander Cauguiran said in a statement on Thursday.
“I will also recommend to MIASCOR the termination from employment of these suspects,” Cauguiran said, adding that measures were being undertaken with airlines and ground handlers to ensure such incidents would not happen again.
Dela Cruz uploaded a video on Facebook on Wednesday where he expressed his dismay after he discovered his luggage and boxes were pilfered.
“Nakita naming wasak ang mga zipper (ng bagahe namin). ‘Yung box namin, bukas na nung dumating kami. Sa sister ko, sorry nawala ang mga t-shirt mo. Nawalan din kami ng mga pasalubong tulad ng Victoria Secret, mga lotion, at mga sabon. Sorry na lang po sa mga hindi mabibigyan,” Dela Cruz said in his video.
(We discovered the zipper of our luggage already been ripped. Our box, it was open when we arrived. To my sister, sorry your t-shirt was lost. We also lost a lot of things like the Victoria Secret, lotions, several soaps. I’m so sorry to those who would not be getting something.)
“Our luggage bags [were] robbed by airport personnel,” Dela Cruz said in his video caption. “Sorry sa nagpadala na nawalan kagaya namin. Hindi na ulit kami magtitiwala (Sorry to those who sent stuff but were lost, we also lost a lot of things. We will not trust them again).”
As of posting, the video has reached two million views, 32,000 likes and reactions, and 70,981 shares.
Cauguiran said MIASCOR has compensated Dela Cruz for the lost items in his luggage amounting to P84,000.
MIASCOR Aviation Services was the ground handler under contract with airlines that service flights and handle baggage of passengers at the Clark airport, Cauguiran said. /jpv