How this Father Ended-Up Detained in Airport Will Shock You

By Rogie Buenafe – Calamba City, Laguna

I own and ran a steel fabrication shop since 2012. I always post my services on Internet especially on the former Sulit.com.ph and Ayosdito.ph before both were purchased by now olx.ph.

It was September 2013 when someone from Legazpi City, Albay texted me asking for help.  Joey (not his real name), asked me if I can be one of his character references, and also if I can provide him a certificate of employment as welder. He told me that he badly needed a job and that he has an active application in Canada. Although an undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering, he said he just finished a 6-month welding course at TESDA where he also passed a trade test.

I was hesitant to agree with what he wanted because I didn’t know him personally. We talked over the phone several times telling me how desperate he is to go to Canada. The only thing he needed was COE, and me as character reference.

I finally sent him a certificate of employment but did not accept his monetary gratitude. He was very happy and told me to get ready once I get a call from his agency.

I received three calls from his employment agency within a week. A week later, he told me that everything was going fine and he was very happy. He always  told me how big my part is in reaching his dreams. Joey is a family man with two kids. He worked in a private foundation for six years before the PDAF scandal broke, and he decided to look for other jobs when funds were cut-off from his former organization.

October 2013, he received his VISA and he visited me personally when he was on his way from Manila. Together with his wife, they thanked me personally and again offered me some five hundred pesos for the documents, but then again I refused. We dine in a nearby restaurant and for a short period of time, I considered him a very true and honest person.

An experienced social worker, he went to Tacloban to help Yolanda victims and volunteered for two weeks. His departure was scheduled on December 23, so he thought he could use some of his time in goodwill effort.

Came December 23, he called me after he entered the airport and again told me how happy he was. He was about to board the plane going to Hawaii, and from there, to Ontario.

Eight hours later, I received a call from his wife telling me that Joey was detained at airport with his three  other colleagues. I was shocked in disbelief.

They were four people from the same employment agency bound to the same company. The three others were from Bacolod City, Pangasinan, and Pasig City. Airport authorities found around 100 grams of Methamphetamine (Shabu) in the luggage of the man from Pasig. All of them got detained, but Joey and the other two were detained in a separate room far away from the one who carried the drug. Authorities feared that the tree of them could kill the Pasig man out of desperation as he caused everyone a terrible problem. Their flight was cancelled. The three of them were sent home after eight hours of investigation and their supposed employment were indefinitely cancelled as well.

“Broken dreams”, that what he told me over the phone. He spent more than a hundred thousand pesos for nothing. He was devastated. His family was saddened and they almost lost everything because of expenses during the application process. I always gave him some advice and hope that someday he might recover.

February 2014, without Joey’s knowledge, I sent an email to the Canadian company where he supposed to work. I told them the whole story, what kind of person Joey is, and how devastated he was. I did not get any response for three weeks. I resent the email and the company told me to tell Joey to prepare because they are going to contact him.

April 2014, Joey and the two other men (Ben and Eric) were contacted by their agency and they finally reached Canada by June 25^th, 2014.

Their dreams were fulfilled after a terrifying experience at the airport. All of them keeps contacting me everyone and then. We became friends and we are scheduled to meet this coming June 3, 2015 when they return to Philippines to spend their first ever vacation.

Bad people are everywhere, and we all glad that they did not do anything bad at the airport when they knew that one of them was carrying an illegal drug. Their dreams were almost ended for nothing.

I always joking him to send the story to Charo Santos but he said we better forget about the incident and focus on the future.

 

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