An officer from the Bureau of Immigration (BI) assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) was cited by the bureau for returning a small bag containing a large amount of cash which an anonymous passenger left in front of her booth.
“Employees like them serve as a source of inspiration to our rank and file as they enhance the reputation and prestige of our bureau as a frontline government agency,” BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said, as he identified the female BI officer as Olivia Ivory Ojeda.
Ojeda was commended for her honesty in reporting to her superiors the large amount of money that she found while on duty.
Tansingco said Ojeda was inside her booth conducting immigration formalities for passengers at the arrival area of NAIA’s Terminal 1 last January 4 when she noticed a small bag lying on top of her counter.
Apparently, the bag, containing several peso bills amounting to almost P90,000, was left by a passenger who seems to have lined up and was processed in Ojeda’s counter.
It was learned that upon seeing the bag, Ojeda immediately reported the matter to Ferdinand Tendenilla, the BI supervisor on-duty, who then instructed her to look for the owner among the passengers who were crowding in the airport’s baggage conveyor.
Despite due diligence, Ojeda was unable to locate or identify the passenger who owns the pouch. Tendenilla later instructed Ojeda to just surrender the money to the NAIA’s lost and found unit.
According to Tansingco, the incident only proves that there are still a lot of honest and upright immigration personnel discharging their duties as gatekeepers of the country.
He said the incident is only the latest of similar cases wherein immigration officers returned and reported money and valuables that passengers had left or lost at the airport’s immigration areas.
