CSC chief: 5 ‘Chinese’ skipped lines at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines — Five Chinese-looking individuals skipped lines at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) yesterday morning, bypassing Civil Service Commission (CSC) commissioner Aileen Lizada and other Filipinos who were queueing at the airport’s pre-departure area.

“I’m here at (NAIA) Terminal 3 for an official regional visit. I and the other Filipinos were properly in line at the pre-departure area when out of nowhere, about four or five of what appeared to be Chinese nationals, entered the barrier,” Lizada, in a combination of Filipino and English, said in an audio recording that she sent to reporters.

“They were all laughing and they were all looking at us, and they went straight to the x-ray (area),” Lizada recounted further.

Lizada said she was not able to record a video of the incident as it happened too fast and that her cell phone was already in her handcarried luggage.

She said that she reported the incident to the Office of Transportation Security (OTS), which “immediately took action.”

“The passenger control here must be improved. We cannot just allow foreigners to act like that when we Filipinos are strictly following the rules. It does not look good on us,” Lizada said.

The CSC chief said she also requested a copy of the closed-circuit television footage of the incident from Manila International Airport Authority general manager Ed Monreal.

“My point here is, we have our laws which we enforce to all the Filipino citizens… I saw how blatantly and how they seemed happy and proud of bypassing our laws by simply not falling in line,” Lizada said.