All hearsay in NAIA ‘escort job’ case

Police investigators have no direct evidence to prove allegations that three policemen escorted an alleged Taiwanese drug laboratory operator to the Immigration counter of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) last month, officials said yesterday.

Philippine National Police–Aviation Security Group (PNP-ASG) director Chief Superintendent Atillano Morada said those tasked to investigate the incident could not find even one witness to testify whether the three police officers accompanied Hsu Hung Hui to ensure his hassle-free departure for Taiwan.

"There is no direct evidence, all hearsay (so far)," he told The STAR in an interview, but said his intelligence personnel are still investigating.

According to Morada, the closed-circuit television cameras that supposedly caught the police officers on tape do not show that they were really escorting the 49-year-old Taiwanese national, who turned out to be on the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s (PDEA) watchlist.

"No positive identification. There’s no one to testify in black and white," he said, adding that there is a possibility that police officers were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time or were just doing their job of assisting passengers and patrolling the area.

Morada, a week after the incident, tasked PNP-ASG intelligence operatives to investigate the incident and make recommendations as to whether or not there is enough evidence to warrant the filing of a case against those reportedly involved.

The three police officers, whose identities are being withheld, have not been placed under preventive suspension but are barred from roaming around NAIA Terminal 1.