Abaya, airport chief face raps over bullet planting at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines - Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya and officials led by Manila International Airport Authority general manager Jose Angel Honrado face criminal and administrative charges before the Office of the Ombudsman over the laglag-bala or bullet planting mess at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

The complainants led by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano accused Abaya and Honrado of failing to stop the alleged laglag-bala shakedown scheme.

Also named respondents were Office of Transportation Security (OTS) administrator Rolando Recomono and Philippine National Police-Aviation Security Group director Chief Supt. Pablo Francisco Balagtas.

In the complaint filed yesterday, Cayetano and the petitioners urged the ombudsman to order the preventive suspension of the officials pending completion of the probe.

Abaya, who had earlier said the case was still being investigated, said he wanted to read the complaint first before commenting on it.

Cayetano, along with Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption founding chairman Dante Jimenez and Robert Lim Joseph representing the groups Network of Independent Travel Agents, Tourism Educators and Movers of the Philippines and League of Tourism Students of the Philippines, said the Office of the Ombudsman should investigate the transport and airport officials for possible criminal liability and negligence under Executive Order No. 226.

The complaint alleged the laglag-bala has victimized several Filipino migrant workers and tourists at an alarming frequency.

The scheme involves inserting a bullet in the luggage of an unsuspecting passenger before a shakedown.

The bullet planting incidents were said to be part of an extortion scheme of some airport personnel.

“This scam is by no means new,” the petitioners said, citing the case of a journalist victimized by the scam several years ago.

“These incidents cause a chilling effect among OFWs, who instead of feeling comfort and rest in their home country, find themselves fearful of and vulnerable to the predatory advances of airport personnel,” the complaint said.

The petitioners said the scheme leaves “a black spot in tourism efforts” and will scare away potential tourists.

International news outfits like TIME and BBC have also drawn attention to the scam, “bringing this embarrassment to a wider global audience,” they stressed.

The complaint alleged that to date, “there are no comprehensive, proactive and preventive efforts undertaken to address the scam once and for all by the government, which has been callous enough to call the number of victims of the scam as ‘isolated cases.’

“Instead of acting immediately when the first case was made public in the Facebook post of one of the victims, Rhed Austria de Guzman, respondents continued to treat the case as isolated and continued to do so even if more cases have been reported,” the complainants said, pointing out that the DOTC called for a meeting only yesterday.

Cayetano and the petitioners slammed what they branded as “gross inaction” by the officials concerned in the scheme.

This developed as Jose Marie Paz Trias, a 34-year-old housewife, filed a complaint before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday, alleging airport personnel planted a bullet in the front pouch of her backpack.

Trias said the bullet, which was wrapped in a small transparent plastic, was found in the front zipper pocket of her gray-colored bag.

Trias said she was accosted along with her mother, grandmother and uncle at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 while about to board a Cebu Pacific flight to Singapore on Oct. 27.

She said the handcarried luggage was being passed through the second X-ray when someone told her that one of the bags of her uncle was heavy and they had to transfer some of its contents to another bag.

“It was at that time when I lost sight of my bag because our focus was in removing some of the contents from one bag and transferring them to another bag. There is also the possibility that someone might have placed the bullet there without my knowing when I was in the airport because I checked my bag twice before the flight and that front pocket was empty,” Trias said.

She was then told to open the bag, and she opened the two big zippers with padlock and removed its contents, but when a female airport personnel checked on the small zipper, the officer pulled out the bullet.

She was then told that a higher official would talk to her. Before the officer arrived she made inquiries if she could talk to a lawyer and the NBI. She believed that the authorities were alerted when she mentioned the NBI.

An older senior airport personnel then approached her and immediately said, “Let us just fix this.”

But before the senior official could say anything else, Trias cut her off and said that she is willing to go to jail because she knows she is innocent.

She asked why would a bullet be in her bag when their purpose of traveling was to go to Singapore to treat her grandmother suffering from leukemia.

The officer then offered to let her go and said they would just try to make it appear that the bullet was an amulet. Trias said she was made to sign their logbook with an already handwritten prepared report on the incident.

She was then allowed to leave the country and experienced no other hitches.

Damage control

Malacañang, on the other hand, left it to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to resolve the issue.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the DOTC is investigating the scheme.

He said the DOTC – which supervises the airports – has “refined the efforts that are being undertaken.”

“So, at some point, and hopefully within this week, DOTC will share to the public the measures that will be taken,” Lacierda said.

“I can assure you that the measures that are going to be undertaken by the DOTC will take into consideration some of the matters that are being discussed,” he said.

Abaya said the DOTC would continue its investigation into the incidents.

“We continue our investigation and information gathering to ensure any operation of tanim bala, if ever there is any, is addressed and halted,” he said.

Abaya said the airport authorities have modified procedures in handling baggage where only passengers could handle them.

Lawmakers led by Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to conduct an inventory of all past arrests concerning confiscation of ammunition at the airports.

He said the scheme has opened up serious doubts as to the authenticity and legitimacy of all the previous arrests involving alleged seizures of ammunition.

Nograles also supported calls for the resignation of Honrado.

“NAIA just used to be the world’s worst airport but now, it has become the world’s only airport with a bullet farm because of this tanim-bala racket. All these things happened under the watch of Honrado. There was never a time when NAIA was the object of so much ridicule and scandal on a constant basis until Honrado came along,” he said.

Party-list Reps. Samuel Pagdilao of ACT-CIS and Gary Alejano of Magdalo said Honrado should not cling to his post and seek protection of President Aquino, who is said to be a distant relative.

“Nobody should be spared, not even relatives, if he or she is found to be negligent,” Alejano said.

Pagdilao, a former police official, said Honrado should resign or be relieved of his post as in the case of police station chiefs found to be remiss in their duties.

Why only now?

Sen. Francis Escudero, for his part, questioned the timing and frequency of the extortion scheme at the airports.

Escudero said it was incredible that all of a sudden there was an increase in the number of airport passengers carrying bullets in their luggage, whether these were amulets or for whatever purpose.

“Are we to believe that all of a sudden so many people thought of carrying bullets in their luggage? Now that Christmas is drawing near?” Escudero remarked.

He lamented the passengers charged with illegal possession of ammunition were forced to shell out P150,000 in bail.

“Not everyone can come up with that amount. In fact, nobody should ever have to raise bail money for a crime he did not commit,” Escudero said.

Apart from the injustice done on the unsuspecting passengers, Escudero said that the scam could erase all of the gains made by the government in promoting the country as a tourist destination.

“The crooks behind this tanim bala are not just planting bullets, they are sowing a sense of insecurity among travelers that will be difficult to address later on. The government has to end this tanim bala scheme now or we will lose our advantage as an emerging travel destination,” he added.

Sen. Grace Poe said the Senate committees on public order and public services would conduct an inquiry soon on the tanim bala incidents.

She said Honrado would be invited to the hearing to explain why this is happening and what is being done to address the issue.

“It is not enough to say that you are investigating this. It is important to know what is being done now,” Poe said.

She suggested the National Bureau of Investigation should be brought in to conduct its own independent investigation.

“It is both sad and infuriating that this is the way we are repaying our so-called modern day heroes. What we should do now is to replace the people who are securing them (airports),” Poe said.

Poe said Honrado should put an end to the tanim bala scam within a week or step down from his post.

She said Honrado should do everything possible, including personally monitoring all of the inspections taking place within the airports.

Pagdilao, for his part, advised victims of the extortion racket to know their rights and demand the specific violations they allegedly committed.

Second, they should immediately avail themselves of the services of a lawyer or any “responsible officer,” who may include even members of the media, to witness the inspection of their belongings, he said.

Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito, who filed a resolution calling for an investigation into the laglag bala scam, stressed the urgency to look into the incidents, saying it has become an international embarrassment for the country.

“It is necessary to determine the persons or syndicate responsible and how they conduct their operations for their laglag bala or tanim bala scheme to find out possible loopholes in airport security policies, rules, regulations and laws,” he said.

Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop, a former police official, said the reforms should start with the recruitment process of airport personnel.

No effect on tourism

Despite the possible fallout over the bullet planting incidents, the Department of Tourism (DOT) expects a “very busy” last two months with the arrival of tourists in the country.

“We have received several queries but we are not aware of effect on tourist arrivals. The Philippines continues to achieve new highs in arrivals and we look forward to a very busy last two months of the year and to an even busier 2016,” DOT Undersecretary Maria Victoria Jasmin said.

Jasmin though admitted it is necessary to immediately resolve the issue because every single incident will definitely affect tourism.

“It can affect in the sense that there’s fear, psychologically they are worried of the possible impact of their travel not only in Philippines but within the Philippines,” she said.

Jasmin said the DOT is upbeat that the country’s hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit on Nov. 18 and 19 will not have any significant negative effect on the arrival of world leaders.

“We really call on our kababayans to be one in the spirit of hosting APEC. This is the best time to show Filipino warmth and hospitality and we hope that if there are groups or syndicates that are involved in this, they would put a stop to this,” Jasmin said.

“We are confident we will be able to arrest the situation in the airports not only in Manila but other airports as well,” she added. – Evelyn Macairan, Paolo Romero, Marvin Sy, Delon Porcalla, Christina Mendez, Ding Cervantes, Edith Regalado, Janvic Mateo, Eva Visperas, Louella Desiderio, Louise Maureen Simeon, Mayen Jaymalin, Cecille Suerte Felipe