Airport security screening officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport are being investigated by the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) after video of them “exhibiting unprofessional behavior” during the security screening of a departing Korean pop group went viral.
The video showed some members of the K-pop group ENHYPEN being frisked by a female security screening officer. Fans who saw the video that was being circulated online were riled that a female personnel was performing a body scan or search of some members of the group. They commented that it was a violation of the no contact security check policy of the airport and some added that the female officer looked like she was even enjoying herself during the pat down.
“The management is currently investigating the matter to determine the extent of violation committed based on existing rules and security screening protocols if any, and impose appropriate administrative sanctions, should it be necessary,” the OTS statement read.
“While we understand the excitement brought about by the presence of these Korean artists, we remind not only our personnel, but all airport users, that unauthorized filming at our security screening checkpoints is not allowed as a matter of policy,” it added.
“Filming in the security checkpoints is also not allowed per our policy. This may be considered a security breach. From the video clip, we can already surmise some irregularity and lapses, not only of the one doing the screening, but also to their supervisors for allowing this to happen, and aggravated by not acting on the lapses and not submitting the required incident report,” OTS spokesperson Kim Marquez said.
The government employees involved who displayed an embarrassing lack of professionalism and decorum, will surely be penalized, as it is the price for having gone viral. While it would be nice to hope that everyone will have learned their lesson so it won’t happen again, leaders of government agencies and offices have to remain on the lookout for similar behavior among their wards, especially after the normalization of unprofessional, rude and socially unacceptable behavior by top government officials themselves during the recent past.*
