‘Depressed’ teen tries to enter airport building sans travel booking

By Jennifer P. Rendon

A teenager allegedly diagnosed to be suffering from depression was rescued by police after trying to make her way into the airport’s terminal building without a ticket.

Nica (not her real name), 17, of Barotac Viejo, Iloilo, allegedly tried to sneak past security at the Cabatuan International Airport with only a passport.

When asked for a plane ticket, she did not present any and made incoherent statements.

Captain Dionisio Estacio, Cabatuan police chief, said the woman boarded the taxi after she was denied entry at around 7:30 a.m. Sunday.

She later returned and tried to enter the gate again.

She then slumped near the security personnel then sat on the pavement.

As airport authorities deemed that something was amiss, they called the Cabatuan Municipal Police Station for assistance.

Members of the Women and Children’s Protection Desk immediately took her into custody.

Even WCPD cops and the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO) claimed the girl was not answering most of their questions and that she was sleepy.

Estacio said they later reached out to her family using the information on her identification card found inside her wallet.

Nica’s family took her into custody at around 12 p.m.

According to her brother-in-law, the victim has been suffering from depression but is under treatment.

She allegedly skipped her medicines and had been sleep deprived.

Nica has been staying in a boarding house while finishing her 11th grade at a university in Iloilo City.

It was gathered that she flagged down a cab and asked the driver to bring her to the airport.

As she had no money to pay for her taxi fare, she surrendered her mobile phone to the driver.

When her brother-in-law called up the driver, the latter claimed he took her phone in lieu of her fare.

Nica’s family claimed this was the first time that she figured in such an incident.