Janitor nabbed for stealing passenger’s bag at NAIA

Catapang was nabbed by authorities on Wednesday after CCTV video showed the back of his uniform with “066” written on it, affirming it was him who stole the bag left at the NAIA Terminal 1 departure area. (File Photo by Jill Shih/Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0)

MANILA — Airport police arrested a janitor for stealing a bag left by a passenger at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and banned him from entering the airport premises.

Officer-in-Charge of the Manila International Airport Authority Intelligence and Investigation Division (MIAA IID), Insp. Erick Mejia, on Thursday evening, identified the suspect as Rocky Catapang of Philcare Janitorial Services.

Catapang was nabbed by authorities on Wednesday after CCTV video showed the back of his uniform with “066” written on it, affirming it was him who stole the bag left at the NAIA Terminal 1 departure area.

The bag, which contained a mobile phone, clothes and papers, belongs to a female Chinese national.

“The incident happened last July 28. However, the complainant didn’t immediately notice that her bag was missing,” Mejia told the Philippine News Agency.

The passenger sent an email to MIAA authorities, prompting the IID to investigate.

“Since three days have passed before we learned about the incident, Catapang apparently threw the clothes into a trash can, while the mobile phone was discovered in his possession, he said.

Mejia added that Catapang initially denied stealing the bag. “He kept on saying that he already handed the bag to a passenger who claimed it’s his or hers,” he said.

“We strategized our questioning and examined his phone inbox. We saw something suspicious in an exchange of text messages so we kept on ‘grilling him’ until he finally confessed to stealing the bag and getting the phone, which he has been using as his personal phone before we recovered it,” he said.

The team from MIAA IID, who investigated and arrested Catapang, are Mejia, Senior Supt. Roque Alcantara, i MIAA Intelligence & Access Management Department manager; Airport Police Victor Mallari, Airport Police Officer 2 (APO2) Ismael Rivera, APO2 Deomedes Roca and APO2 Dyron Candido.

Airport authorities could only file administrative charges against Catapang. He was already terminated by the company.

Mejia said it is up to the passenger if she would return to the Philippines to get her phone and file a case against Catapang.