MANILA, Philippines – Five personnel of the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) were suspended after videos which went viral on social media showed them allegedly extorting money from a Thai tourist on February 22, 2023.

The videos were uploaded by Thai national Piyawat Gunlayaprasit on his Facebook account and taken at the security screening checkpoint of the NAIA Terminal 2. Piyawat was among the departing passengers.

The first video Piyawat uploaded showed an OTS staffmember inserting something into the jacket pocket of fellow OTS staff at a NAIA security checkpoint. Piyawat’s video caption said the staff allegedly inserted cash taken from Thai tourist Kitja Thabthim.

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The second video showed Kitja telling the security screening officer (SSO) to return the ¥20,000, equivalent to around P8,000, taken from him. The video also showed the OTS personnel handing back the money to the passenger, while the SSO was asking Piyawat to “delete the video.” 

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As of writing, Piyawat’s first video now has 51,000 views, while his second video has over 17,000 views.

According to an ABS-CBN report, four officers involved in the extortion incident were job order staff hired last year, while the other was a contractual employee who had been working for around five years.

Following the incident, the OTS released a statement that said it already identified the involved officers and relieved them from duty. The OTS also placed them on preventive suspension. 

The OTS statement also said that investigators were preparing to file the appropriate administrative cases against the officers. 

“These illegal acts will not be tolerated and we will apply the full force of the law to penalize the perpetrators,” the OTS statement said.

Meanwhile, Kitja, the Thai in the viral video who was getting his money back, told Rappler via Facebook Messenger that he planned to sue the security officers.

“I don’t want to see more victims,” Thabthim said.

Kitja also added that a Filipino police officer has reached out to him and encouraged him to file complaints. – Rappler.com