Airport manager investigates info "leak"

CEBU, Philippines - Mactan Cebu International Airport Manager Danilo Augusto Francia has created a team to investigate and to identify the airport personnel who informed The Freeman about the granting of the controversial P500,000-severance pay to former tourism regional director Patria Auroa Roa.

In his Office Order No. 052-2010 dated last July 12, Francia named acting airport police chief Bonifacio Y. Pusta to head the team, with Jacinto Comendador, James R. Beloy and Douglas P. Magdadaro, as members.

Comendador is the airport’s safety officer, Beloy is with the airport police division while Magdadaro is a staff in the Intelligence and ID pass division. Some of the personnel said Comendador still has no appointment as safety officer.

The FREEMAN learned that the team yesterday called up Dahl Cesar of the airport’s Budget Division and Luz Cosejo of the Cashiering Division. Both of them were asked why some of the documents were leaked to the media.

The team also summoned Delia Paciencia of the airport’s Cashiering Division to appear before them this morning.

Some personnel of the airport’s finance section claimed that the workers, particularly those who leaked the information about the granting of the P500,000 severance pay, deserve public praise and not prosecution.

A worker at the airport’s legal section who asked not to be identified said, “Granting without admitting that they really released the information, they must have done it only in the interest of truth and transparency.”

Another airport personnel said, “This is not to say that the ones being investigated right now are really the whistleblowers but my point is that this is plain harassment. Which is the wrongdoer here, those who raised the alarm over an immoral transaction or the ones who approved it in the first place?”

Francia’s order said the investigating team shall have the power to issue subpoena to any airport employee and to ask for records and documents pertaining to the release of the severance pay. The team is asked to submit its report directly to the manager within 15 days.

The airport manager has stopped communicating with this reporter since last week, when the issue has caught the attention of Cebu’s media.

Roa earlier said she is ready to return the money if the MCIAA Board orders her to do so. — THE FREEMAN