Senator Grace Poe on Wednesday, Sept. 27, urged the Office of Transportation Security (OTS) to improve its system following OTS Undersecretary Mao Aplasca’s resignation on Tuesday.

“A resignation at the top does not clean up its ranks [...] The OTS must improve its system at the point of hiring, review its recruitment policies, and enforce ethics training. Employees must undergo extensive background checks,” Poe said in a press statement.

“There should be zero tolerance for criminal acts and unprofessional behavior. Our airports should improve the physical layout of the security screening stations and provide proactive measures to prevent any further incidents,” she added, alluding to the alleged theft of $300 by OTS’s security personnel.

Poe earlier expressed her embarrassment over the incident, calling a punishment for “those who violate the law.”

Security of tenure, long-term solutions

The Senate Committee on Public Services chairman also expressed her desire for OTS to provide better compensation and benefits to its employees, whose majority remain under the contractual status, so they would not be tempted to do such behavior.

“The permanent solution is still to give security of tenure and increase the salary of highly-skilled technical personnel in our airports,” Poe said.

“The challenge now is for the leadership to appoint someone with immense political will to overhaul the agency and stop these incidents once and for all,” she added.

In an interview with DZRH on Sept. 21, Aplasca confirmed that the female personnel, who allegedly swallowed 300-dollar bills from a Chinese passenger, was a contractual employee earning P17,000 monthly.