American tanim-bala victim leaves Philippines

MANILA, Philippines - Visiting American missionary Lane Michael White, a victim of the tanim-bala (bullet-planting) scheme at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, was scheduled to board a Philippine Airlines flight bound for Los Angeles at the NAIA Terminal 2 at 9 p.m. yesterday.

Pasay City Branch 119 Judge Pedro de Leon Gutierrez ordered the Bureau of Immigration to lift the hold departure order against White after he was cleared of any offense last Dec. 10.

White attended more than two months of hearings on the scheme.

White arrived in the country from the US last Sept. 16, together with his father and Filipina stepmother, to look for a small piece of land where they could build a church for their congregation.

They had a flight to Coron, Palawan the following day but they were held at the NAIA Terminal 4 after airport security allegedly discovered a .22-cal. bullet in his luggage after it went through the x-ray scanner.

White said he was not carrying the bullet but airport security insisted that it was not planted.

He was held for five days – from Sept. 17 to Sept. 21 – at the Philippine National Police (PNP) detention cell after allegedly refusing to give P30,000 to Office for Transportation Security (OTS) personnel in exchange for his immediate release.

He was later released from jail after the court acted on his motion and reduced his bail from P80,000 to P40,000.

White identified the alleged suspects in the bullet-planting scheme as Maria Elma Cena, 46, and Marvin Garcia, 23, members of the Transportation Security Risk Management Bureau of the OTS and currently assigned at NAIA Terminal 4.

“I wouldn’t know what to do without the media on my side. I’m glad I became an instrument in helping the Philippines expose this scheme to the world,” White said prior to his departure.

“The people will now be more vigilant when they travel,” he added.

Deeper probe

Meanwhile, Valenzuela City Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian urged yesterday the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to go deeper into its probe of the bullet-planting scheme at the NAIA as he believes a syndicate is behind the racket.

“While we laud the effort of the NBI in filing charges against four policemen from the PNP-Aviation Security Group (ASG) and two personnel of the OTS, the NBI should dig deeper so that the syndicate behind this tanim-bala modus will be unmasked and brought to justice,” he said.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed that there were instances that the extortion scheme was perpetrated by OTS personnel. 

DOJ spokesman Emmanuel Caparas, however, clarified that the NBI cannot confirm yet if there is a syndicate behind the bullet-planting scheme. He said the group behind the scheme is not big enough to be considered a syndicate.  – With Paolo Romero