MANILA — The issue involving an airport security who allegedly tried to swallow $300 stolen from a passenger is an isolated case, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said Wednesday.

"I would just like to qualify that a single act or any other isolated act is absolutely not representative of our tourism industry and our tourism workers in our country who have work so hard to ensure that we rise from the challenges of the pandemic and calamities," Frasco told reporters.

"We are confident that since there are very many reasons to love the Philippines, our tourism industry will continue to flourish despite this isolated incident," she added.

Frasco said Department of Tourism was open to collaborate with the transport agency to address the concern.

"Tourism provides livelihood to millions of Filipinos. And therefore, any crime against a tourist is a crime against our country," she said.

"From our end, we fully support the Department of Transportation’s measures to meet out the maximum penalty to the person involved and we continue to collaborate with them so that the Filipino brand of service excellence especially in our gateways is perpetuated."

An administrative investigation into the alleged cash-swallowing incident at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport found four personnel of the Office for Transportation Security “guilty of stealing”, according to Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista.

These include the woman seen on a CCTV footage supposedly swallowing a wad of money and three other accomplices.

• DOTr probe finds 4 OTS personnel 'guilty of stealing' in cash-swallowing scandal

Following his resignation as Office for Transportation Security chief Mao Ranada Aplasca condemned an alleged cultural rot inside the country's airport security teams, which allowed erring screeners to stay in their jobs before he started an internal cleansing process.

Aplasca, who resigned after Speaker Martin Romualdez threatened to block the approval of the budget of the OTS and the Department of Transportation if he does not leave his post, said the problem with airport security is "more than systemic, it is cultural."

A former head of PNP Aviation Security Group, Aplasca's first mission in the Avsegroup was to rid the country's airports of the "tanim-bala" scheme wherein airport screeners plant bullets inside passengers' luggage in order to extort money.

• Duterte orders end to 'tanim-bala'
• LIST: Passengers allegedly victimized by 'tanim-bala'

Aplasca said that before his resignation, the OTS had initiated 68 cases against erring personnel with at least 11 people dismissed.

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