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Money-swallowing airport screener sparks parodies by Philippine food, toy brands

2023-09-27 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-亚洲原网页

If you can eat ’em, sell ’em.

Top food and toy brands in the Philippines are jumping on a case that has gone viral of an airport screening officer in Manila caught swallowing US$300 (S$410) worth of cash pinched from a passenger’s wallet.

Footage from an airport security camera caught the officer stuffing the bills into her mouth while on duty on Sept 18.

She was covering her mouth with a handkerchief, and nearly choked as she tried to hurriedly down what she had in her mouth with water.

But she denied ingesting the money, claiming instead that she was eating chocolates. Still, the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) fired her.

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OTS chief Ma. O Aplasca said he found her alibi incredulous.

“You don’t eat chocolate that way we saw her in the video clip, almost choking. You don’t need water to down it,” he said.

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In any case, the incident has provided food and beverage companies in the Philippines fodder for their online marketing blitz.

Razon’s Zamboanga, which sells a popular dessert of shaved ice, evaporated milk, sugar, fruits, nuts and ice cream called “halo halo”, posted on Thursday a photo collage on its Facebook page with the tagline “Snack at the airport: US$300. Snack at Razon’s 130 pesos (S$3.20)”.

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The post has over 100,000 views so far.

Lola Nena’s, a popular restaurant chain known for its cheese doughnuts, posted a video on its Instagram account last Friday parodying the money-swallowing incident at the airport.

The video, which has over 3,000 likes, shows “a member of the team” being “caught” on a security camera finishing off a bottle of Lola Nena’s “premium Spanish sardines”.

“She allegedly couldn’t help herself from finishing the whole bottle because it’s so delicious and packed to the brim with zesty sardines and spices,” the account’s caption read.

Authentic Bootleg, which retails offbeat toys online, meanwhile, began selling on its Facebook page its “security starter kit” Halloween costume featuring a handkerchief and a water bottle, “300 US dollars not included”.

It also had the tongue-in-cheek warning: Do not swallow.

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