Cabbie caught using 'batingting' at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines - A taxi driver was apprehended yesterday morning after Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) officials caught him with a “batingting,” a device used to speed up a taxi’s meter, installed in his vehicle.

In his report, action officer Manny Rodriguez told Manila International Airport Authority assistant general manager Salvador Peñaflor that he received a text message that a metered taxi with body number S-037 has a batingting connected to its meter.

He called airport police and found that the taxi described in the text message belongs to Gallant Godsend Transit Corp., one of the metered taxi firms operating at the airport. Driver Eduardo Bejado was in line to pick up passengers at NAIA Terminal 1 at the time he was apprehended.

Upon inspecting the taxi’s engine, Rodriguez found two separate gadgets that speed up the meter. Bejado, who has been driving the same taxi for the past four years, said he found the taxi already equipped with the batingting when he started.

He justified the use of the batingting by saying that even if he made 10 trips in a day, he would still not have enough to feed his family because of high gasoline prices. Bejado’s unit has been impounded at the NAIA, though he himself has been released.

An airport taxi’s flagdown rate is P300 and a passenger has to pay an additional P4 for every 300 meters.

Peñaflor said all metered taxis operating at NAIA terminals will be inspected following Bejado’s apprehension. No charges have been filed as of yesterday.