By Joey Aguilar

Staff Reporter

 

A Filipino expatriate working with Qatar Airways, who helped a passenger recover as much as $82,500 in cash from “a group of other nationalities” at  Doha International Airport (DIA) early this year, has been honoured.

Rodel C Vinluan received a citation from the Philippine Overseas Labour Office and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (POLO-OWWA)  during the Migrant Workers Day celebration on Sunday.

The event was attended by ambassador Crescente Relacion and members of the Filipino community who handed a certificate to Vinluan.

“Vinluan was cited for the way he dealt with an incident at the DIA on January 18 when a passenger travelling to Istanbul on Pegasus Air flight PC601 reported that he had lost his money pouch containing $82,500 in the washroom,” said a circular from the office of the labour attache.

The circular noted that Vinluan was also recognised by Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al-Baker for his “excellent service he provided to a passenger in need and demonstrated the value of an effective security team provides at DIA”.

Vinluan joined Qatar Airways  as a CCTV and access control security agent in 2011.

According to the circular, Vinluan was at the transit area when he saw the Istanbul-bound passenger rushing to the control room to report the incident to Qatar Airways security and Ministry of Interior (MoI) personnel.

It said that Vinluan, together with his supervisor, immediately reviewed the footage and saw that the money was stolen by “a group of other nationalities” who had put the money in a bag and divided it among themselves.

With the co-ordination of MoI and Qatar Airways security personnel, the money was recovered and returned to the owner.

The Philippine embassy in Doha  gave a special recognition earlier this year to Jayson Castillo for returning a black leather pouch containing QR50,000 cash, an iPhone and a QR200,000 cheque which he had found on a road in Al Khor while on his way to work.

POLO-OWWA has urged overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to continue doing good deeds to everyone regardless of nationality and belief.

“We hope that this will serve as an inspiration to many expatriates,” said Labour attache Leopoldo De Jesus.