US Navy officer leaps to death at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines - A Filipino-American who was an active member of the United States Navy allegedly committed suicide by diving from the top of a 10-foot-high set of stairs and hitting the pavement headfirst at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) yesterday morning.

Lt. Cmdr. Scintar Buenviaje Mejia, 35, a naturalized citizen and resident of Los Angeles, California, arrived in the country last week for a visit and was about to return to the US on board a Philippine Airlines flight for Los Angeles at around 10 p.m., according to Senior Superintendent Manuel Pintado.

Pintado said according to initial reports he received, Mejia arrived at the NAIA Terminal 2 at around 7:20 p.m. for his 10 p.m. flight. He cleared the metal detector and body frisking when he reportedly brought out a transparent plastic sachet from his hand-carried luggage and showed it to X-ray operator Jose Saul Villegas.

Mejia allegedly threw the sachet at Villegas, accusing him and other personnel that he was being set up for a crime. He reportedly became hysterical and started shouting at the security personnel around him, Pintado said.

Aviation policemen, headed by SPO1 Mateo Aguilas, arrived at the scene and pacified Mejia. Aguilas asked for a Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) member to check the contents of the sachet as Mejia was brought to the Aviation Security Group (ASG) office for questioning.

PDEA agent Edwin Reed said the sachet contained .03 grams of a powdery substance that initial tests indicate as cocaine.

At around 5:30 a.m. yesterday, Mejia asked permission from Aguilas and SPO2 Roberto Figueras to use the restroom, which was occupied at the time.

Mejia allegedly insisted that he needed to urinate, and the policemen granted his request to do so outside the building. As he was escorted outside, Mejia reportedly ran towards the cement stairs, which is approximately 10 feet high, and dove towards the ground.

Policemen rushed him to the San Juan de Dios Hospital, where he died at around 6:45 a.m. while undergoing treatment.

Chief Inspector Raymund Liguden, Pasay City police investigation division head, said they will probe if there was foul play involved in Mejia’s death. The US Naval Criminal Investigative Service will conduct their own probe, Liguden told The STAR.