MEMBERS of Airport Press Club (APC) are up in arms over the outright removal of its member Froilan Morallos from the Viber group of the APC and OTS (Office for Transportation Security) when he criticized the agency on the long lines caused by the shoe removal policy at the airports.
Lamentably, OTS chief Ma.O. Aplasca directed the removal of Froilan from the Viber group and his spokesperson, Kim Alyssa Marquez, deleted Morallos just as quickly.
Before that, some members of the group were openly talking about the long lines at the NAIA terminals these past few days following the decision of the agency to revive the old policy of removing shoes as part of the airport protocols.
Froilan said: “hindi maaalis ang mahabang pila ng mga pasahero sa airport dahil sa pagkainutil ng mga tauhan ng immigration at OTS,” to which Aplasca himself commented: “Kim pakialis nga dito sa group natin ito Bastos na tao. Not deserving to be part of these professional media. ”
Marquez replied, “Yes po Sir” and then he removed Froilan at once. Just like that.
APC members who felt slighted by what Aplasca and Marquez did to their colleague have left the Viber group one after another in protest of the rudeness displayed by the OTS officials.
For the APC, the situation could have been handled in a more professional way, either by calling out Froilan first through a private message or even on the same Viber group. They could have talked to APC President Ariel Fernandez about it.
Better yet, Aplasca could have stated his side to convince Morallos to change his impression about the OTS.
Some people are trying to intercede on behalf of the OTS after APC members wrote about the Viber brouhaha.
Again, the OTS is mishandling the situation. They know the contact numbers of those who felt offended and could easily contact them, instead of explaining their side to people who are even involved in the first place.
Aplasca, according to a colleague, has told an aviation official that he was offended by Froilan, in the assumption that Froilan knew that he (Aplasca) was in that Viber group.
Truth is, we were all surprised that Aplasca was there and even so, granting that he found the comment rude, the words he dished out in ordering the removal of Froilan were totally uncalled for.
Again, granting for the sake of argument that what Froilan did was indeed wrong, there is an age-old saying that “two wrongs don’t make right”.
Besides, if Aplasca found Froilan’s comment rude and unprofessional, he (Aplasca) could have opted to show Froilan that he was more professional and polite. After all, he is a ranking public official.
The slighted APC members said while Aplasca branded Froilan as ‘bastos’, the move to suddenly remove Froilan just for being critical of OTS, along with his comment, was even ruder and could be taken as a message as to how OTS will treat any media member who will criticize the OTS. Duh.
The disgruntled APC members also chided Marquez for not even trying to dissuade Aplasca from being onion-skinned or handling the situation herself first.
These OTS officials must be reminded that no one from the APC, even Froilan himself, ever asked to be included in the said Viber group, which, by the way, had only served the purpose of being the vehicle where OTS can send their ‘praise releases.’
In short, the OTS created that Viber group more for their own benefit than ours.
Froilan is in fact among those who have been accommodating the OTS press releases without expecting anything in return and who had been fair at a time when the OTS was being hit left and right both in the mainstream and social media due to a number of negative issues like extortion complaints and loss of items from passengers.
It will be recalled that the OTS had come under fire following the series of theft complaints involving screening security officers assigned at the country’s premier airport terminals.
Among the controversies include the case of screening officers Irene Medalla and Babeth Tagapan who were seen in a video taking money from a Thai national on February 22, 2023, at the NAIA Terminal 2. The video went viral.
On March 1, 2023, OTS personnel Valeriano Diaz Ricaplaza, Jr. was arrested by the PNP-Aviation Security Group for taking a watch owned by a Chinese national. He was also dismissed from the service.
Another OTS screening officer was arrested for taking a mobile phone owned by a wheelchair attendant working at the airport.
According to diligent research made by APC colleague Joel Zurbano, a total of 61 OTS personnel were sanctioned from 2022 up to March 10, 2023. Of the number, 18 were dismissed, 26 were reprimanded, three were suspended and 14 were submitted to the Legal Office for review. Whew!!!
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