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Jiro Manio found roaming as a vagrant in NAIA

The country’s youngest award-winning actor, Jiro Manio, was found roaming in Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

The 23-year old former child star, who won several awards when he was only 12 years old for his portrayal in the movie Magnifico, has reportedly been staying and wandering around the airport terminal for four days and surviving on the kindness of strangers.

After the media reported his vagrancy on Tuesday afternoon, airport personnel took Manio to the security office where he was expected to be picked up by members of his family.

NAIA terminal 3 security guard Frank Sorca, who initially recognised Manio, told reporters that he pitied the actor when he saw him wandering around the airport. He quoted the actor as saying that he did not want to leave the terminal because he would only get hurt outside.

“But when I asked him again at a different time, he told me a different story. He constantly changes his answers,” the security guard said, hinting that the actor might be mentally unstable.

When asked if he was an actor, he insisted he wasn’t and asked for evidence to prove he was. He even suggested that he might just look like an actor. In 2004, then 12-year-old Manio won the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) Award for Best Child Actor for his role in the movie Magnifico and won the Gawad Urian and Luna or Film Academy of the Philippines Best Actor awards for the same film. The actor went into rehabilitation for drug abuse in 2011, undergoing therapy for a year.

Kristine Abante brings you the lowdown from the Filipino entertainment world.