By Recto Mercene & Butch Fernandez
Just a few weeks after the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) was removed from a travel web site’s list of “Worst Airports in the World,” the airport was again the object of derision across the globe. The alleged bullet-planting (tanim-bala in Filipino) scheme hit mainstream and social media, after an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who was returning from Hong Kong raised a howl of protest after airport personnel purportedly found a carbine bullet in her bag.
OFW Gloria Ortinez, 56, had been a migrant worker for over 20 years. Ortinez had just arrived from Hong Kong when a carbine bullet was found by Naia’s Office for Transportation Security (OTS) personnel in her bag at the x-ray section of the airport. She said she has never seen a carbine bullet in her life.
“God knows I am a victim of tanim-bala modus in the airport by these unscrupulous OTS personnel who only wanted to earn easy money,” Ortinez said in subsequent interviews.
She was detained after failing to pay P80,000 bail on charges of illegal possession of ammunition filed before the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office. However, the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office released Ortinez, after it was found that the photographs of the bullet presented by the prosecution was different from the one originally “found” by the OTS in her luggage.
But, it was a bittersweet victory for her, because she now faces the danger of losing her job in Hong Kong after the incident.
Victims’ harrowing experience
Those victimized by the bullet-planting scheme have the same harrowing experience to tell: They checked in their hand-carry bags at the airport and as soon as the x-ray machine spits these out, a bullet or two is suddenly “discovered” in their bags.
In the Philippines illegal possession of firearms and ammunition is considered a serious offense. Under Presidential Decree (PD) 1866, “the penalty of reclusion temporal in its maximum period to reclusion perpetua shall be imposed upon any person who shall unlawfully manufacture, deal in, acquire, dispose, or possess any firearm, part of firearm, ammunition or machinery, tool or instrument used or intended to be used in the manufacture of any firearm or ammunition.”
PD 1866 was amended by Republic Act 10591, or an Act Providing for a Comprehensive Law on Firearms and Ammunition and Providing Penalties for Violations Thereof. Passengers targeted for mulcting, when confronted with this draconian edict, based on the bullet “discovered” in their possession, become easy prey. Not wanting to miss their flight or otherwise blow their chances to snag a waiting job in some foreign destination, they have to cough up a token amount of, say, P500, before they are allowed to leave.
Apparently, the money-making scheme worked so well, it has been going on for allegedly quite some time. The malevolent mulcting scheme was exposed when a wheelchair-bound passenger fought back. She won the case hands-down. The photograph of the incriminating bullet, brought up by the prosecution, was different from the original that was supposedly in her possession.
Thanks to the courage and convictions of some of the victims, the racket had been finally exposed. They surmised that the perpetrators had been doing it as frequently as 20 times a day. Multiplied by P500 bucks, the minimum being asked, the total would amount to P20,000.
An American missionary has been accused by the security personnel at the Naia of having a bullet in his luggage. They used this pretext of the “planted” contraband to extort P30,000 from him. Because he refused to pay up, 20-year-old Lane Michael White of Florida spent six days in jail and got out only on a few days later after posting a bail of P40,000.
White was nabbed because of the .22-caliber bullet found in his bag on the morning of September 17, when he and his family were scheduled to take a flight to Coron, Palawan. He ended up being charged with illegal possession of ammunition before Pasay City Judge Pedro Gutierrez.
White was the second foreigner in a week to make such allegations against airport personnel manning the x-ray scanner at the departure area, where members of the OTS are assigned.
The OTS said the P30,000 “bribe” being asked was a misunderstanding. “It’s the fine for those who violate the law,” said lawyer Miguel FF. Oraa, OTS assistant administrator.
A US-based OFW named Mavic Templo went on vacation with her family in her hometown Batangas. On the day of her departure at the Naia at the airport x-ray section, a male staff approached her and asked whether she’s carrying an anting-anting, or amulet, in one of her packages.
“I said no, because I never buy those things,” Templo said.
A staff member insisted that there was something unusual inside Templo’s package. She told him it only contained a wedding picture, a serving dish and a small collection of old coins. When the man rummaged through the bag, he produced a caliber .22 bullet from inside the pouch, which sent her into a shock. She’s aware of the prohibition against carrying bullets and feared she might miss her flight.
“In the first place, we don’t have guns at home. I have never seen a caliber .22 before,” Templo said.
She said the staff member took her green card and her passport to be photocopied, along with the bullet. Then she was told to write an affidavit of ownership of the “amulet,” but she refused.
“I will not write those things, because that’s not what really happened,” Templo said, suspecting that the man is attempting to link the amulet or the bullet allegedly found on her luggage. In the end, she said she was compelled to write that she had no idea how the bullet found its way into her bag.
When she asked for the man’s name so she could include him in the affidavit, the staff allegedly refused. In the confusion that followed, Templo also failed to photograph the man with her cellular phone, as well as his surname on the name tag.
She said she became desperate when the staff ordered her husband and child to check in so they won’t miss the flight, a well-calibrated move, although the man told her in a calming voice not to be alarmed and promised to get her out of her predicament.
Taking a cue from the man’s statement, Templo forked out P400. After she handed the money over, the man wished them a safe flight, saying: “Take care, ma’am. God bless!”
Templo said he remembered the experience again after reading a similar story of Rhed Austria de Guzman on Facebook.
De Guzman is the wheelchair-bound OFW who was forced to cough up P500 to two Naia staff plus P200 to a porter, after two bullets were allegedly “found” in her luggage on September 18.
A portion of her FB story said: “Bumulong ung porter sa tabi ko. Sabi niya, ‘Ate, ayusin mo na lang. Pwede na yan sa P500.’ Sabi ko sa babae eh, ‘Baka pwedeng tulungan mo ako.’ Sagot naman niya, ‘O sige po, iabot mo nalang sakin patago. Baka mahuli ako ng supervisor.’”
“Sa pangalawang pagkakataon eh binody-check ako at dun ko na inabot ang P500 sa kanila. Pati ung porter na bumulong eh binigyan ko ng P200. Ayun, pinayagan na akong umalis! Para sa P500 eh maninira sila ng pangalan ng tao,” she said.
‘International embarrassment’
The airport’s notoriety caught the attention of Time magazine. It came out with a story, titled “Airport security in the Philippines have been putting bullets in luggage to extort passengers.” Its subhead read: “This is becoming an international embarrassment.”
“The job of airport security is to confiscate dangerous items from suitcases, but travelers have recently found the opposite is true in the Philippines’s Manila Airport, where staff have allegedly been dropping bullets into the bags of unsuspecting passengers,” the Time report read. It also quoted a British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) report, saying that legislators have called for an investigation into the supposed racket that extorts money from passengers by threatening to charge or arrest them for carrying illegal ammunition.
The Naia was also criticized for having closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) that are positioned far from the inspection scene, aside from having poor-quality video. Observers wonder if this is deliberate, since cameras in casinos are focused on the gambling table where personnel and gamblers are easily identified.
More than 30 years ago, the same CCTV arrangement proved to be totally useless when the assassination of former Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr., after whom the airport was named, was never recorded or could have been deliberately erased.
Today 600 pieces of a new expensive set of surveillance equipment at the Naia have yet to be installed. Several biddings have failed, because there are allegations of an apparent attempt to corner the business by some quarters. The project to situate scores of CCTVs in all four Naia passenger terminals and up to the airport perimeter is worth close to half-a-billion pesos.
‘End this national disease’
Alarmed and probably embarrassed by these antics at the Naia, several legislators came out simultaneously, denouncing the illegal practice and vowing to end this national disease that apparently struck our airport law enforcers.
Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian of Valenzuela City filed House Resolution 2419, which directs the committees on Good Government and on Transportation to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, into the series of laglag-bala incidents at the Naia.
Gatchalian also called for a total revamp of the OTS following the revelation of Tarlac City Rep. Noel Villanueva that he, too, fell prey to the “laglag-bala syndicate,” while he was leaving for abroad sometime in August 2014.
Partylist Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz of Abakada said Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) General Manager Jose Angel A. Honrado and all other officials involved in the operations and security of the Naia and other international airports should all submit their courtesy resignation.
“Even as we are rushing with our last-minute preparations for Apec, we must enjoin all the heads of agencies in charge of operations and security at the international airport to submit their courtesy resignation. We need to put in an entirely new crew in charge of inspection and security, and file charges against those involved in this laglag-bala operation,” de la Cruz said.
Davao City Rep. and House Committee on Labor Chairman Karlo Alexei Nograles said Honrado is “causing pain and anguish” not only to the Aquino administration but to the entire nation, as well. He reminded Honrado that the country’s international airports, especially the Naia, are the nation’s windows to the world.
“At the first instance that this laglag-bala scam was exposed by the media, we expected concrete and immediate action but, unfortunately, Honrado was contented making excuses for the shenanigans inside the airports he manages. Honrado must be removed if we really want to reform the image of our airports,” Nograles said.
“Travelers using our airports are now too terrorized that they even wrap their luggage with masking tape just to stop the Naia people from planting bullets into their bags. This is really embarrassing. No airport in the world can you find this kind of paranoia. Only in the Philippines,” he added.
Meanwhile, John Leonard Monterona, Migrante Middle East regional coordinator, said OFWs fear they may become victims of the syndicate when they return home for a vacation.
“This is quite alarming. Airport authorities must step up their policing function at all airports,” Monterona said as he stressed the need to ensure the security of travelers in the face of the coming Christmas season and the hordes of balikbayan and Ofws expected for their yearly trek back home.
OFW advocate and senatorial candidate Susan Ople told the BusinessMirror that she would support a bill calling for “draconian measures” if only to free OFWs from the anxiety of unfair treatment at our principal airports.
“We have been calling for a thorough cleansing of the airport terminals under the Manila International Airport Authority of scalawags and extortion syndicates. Let’s not wait until an Apec delegate falls victim to such a scam. As it is, our airports have become a source of trauma for many passengers. [Ortinez’s] case should serve as an eye-opener for all, especially those in government,” Ople said.
Demolition job?
Malacañang on Wednesday washed its hands off the alleged attempts to link two key aides of President Aquino in the tanim-bala extortion racket victimizing airline passengers.
“We are not involved in that matter,” Palace Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said. “So, we leave it with the campaign spokesperson to discuss that,” Lacierda added, referring to Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya, Liberal Party (LP) president, and resigned Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, the LP’s standard-bearer in the 2016 presidential derby.
Lacierda sidestepped queries on whether the Palace would pursue complaints from its LP allies that the tanim-bala controversy was fueled by Roxas’s rivals to turn off voters and damage his poll chances.
This, after Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras was reported to have brushed off similar questions on the tanim-bala controversy, saying that President Aquino was not buying the theory that the tanim-bala racket was a demolition job against the administration and its allies.
Abaya and Roxas supporters were also earlier reported to have tagged the tanim-bala racket as a scheme to derail the chances of administration-backed candidates in next year’s elections.
President Aquino, moving to stop the racket victimizing innocent airline passengers believed targeted for extortion by members of an airport syndicate, had ordered Abaya and the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to “cast a wide net” in looking into the anomaly. Abaya, however, has yet to render a report to the President on the matter.
‘Unbelievable’
THE BusinessMirror interviewed the ranking officials with direct responsibility and control over their personnel at the principal airport: Honrado; PCSupt.Francisco Balagatas, director of the Aviation Security Group (Avsegroup); and Commo. (ret.) Roland S. Recomono, OTS administrator.
Honrado, through his spokesman David de Castro, offered a prepared statement. “Firstly, the Manila International Airport Authority recognizes the fact that security screeners at the airport are personnel of the Office for Transportation Security (OTS), an attached agency of the DOTC.”
“As such, the Miaa has no administrative control over their personnel. Considering recent events, the OTS conducts its investigation with regard to its own personnel,” he said.
“In instances that OTS personnel—or any airport worker for that matter—at the Naia are involved in any investigation or have pending cases against them, the Miaa revokes their access passes. The names of the personnel are also included on the stop list order of the airport,” Honrado added.
De Castro said the Miaa coordinates closely with concerned agencies—such as the OTS and the PNP-Avsegroup—in the investigation of suspects.
“Among others, the Miaa provides CCTV footage as needed,” he said.
“The Miaa wishes to remind the public of proper screening procedures at the airport. Only the passenger may open his or her baggage before this is subjected to any manual search by the OTS. An officer from the PNP-ASG must also be on standby to witness any manual searches, particularly those involving initial finds of ammunition and explosives,” de Castro added.
Balagtas, for his part, said there is a “lingering suspicion” that unknown persons with an ax to grind against the Aquino administration have a hand on this sorry episode to embarrass the President.
“Our role here is to act on the OTS endorsement and no other particular work but to file a case once referred to us,” Balagtas said.
When asked if his personnel assist the passengers with their luggage, he said it used to be a traditional practice, which he had banned, especially those wearing police uniform.
Balagtas added that they cannot believe that despite the frequent exposés in the newspapers, some of his men would continue to engage in the swindle, knowing that they face stiff sanctions, such as being kicked out of the service.
He cited the example of Augusto Dagan, the 60-year-old resident of Quezon City who was found with two pieces of live 9-millimeter bullets at the Davao International Airport last Saturday. Davao International Airport is under the supervision of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines. Airport Area Manager Efren Nagrama said Dagan was supposed to fly to Manila via Philippine Airlines when he was arrested. He posted a bond amounting to P120,000 for his temporary liberty.
Balagtas said no one among his personnel has been suspended or terminated for allegedly being involved in the tanim, laglag bala swindle, although many of them were kicked out for other offenses. He said the majority of those caught in possession of the bullets admit they were amulets, meant to protect the wearer from evil spirits.
When asked about the case of Ortinez, Balagtas said she was “released for further investigation [RFI], he said, in the military parlance. “The decision to release her is made by the Pasay City prosecutor that is beyond our control,” he added.
When pressed that the photographic evidence showed in Pasay is different from the original photograph, Balagtas said both original photos should be compared side by side. “The photograph is elongated or distorted, due to parallax.”
When told that the elongation is unnecessary because the two photographs show different calibers of bullets, Balagtas said he is not privy to the details of the incident.
Balagtas added that if he had his way, he would allow passengers with a maximum of five bullets in them to be allowed to go through, as the evidence can be confiscated, the way they confiscate liquid and bottled items beyond a certain volume. He said he is constrained by PD 1866.
The airport, over the years, has collected truckloads of perfume, aerosol, bottled water, body spray, scissors and knives. In one instance, then-airport manager Alfonso Cusi spread all of these confiscated materials on a parking lot and tried a road roller to destroy all of them in the presence of the media.
When the BusinessMirror asked Recomono to comment on the current sad episode involving his men about the laglag or tanim-bala scheme, he said, “Fort OTS is being besieged, like the Indians attacking the Alamo.”
“The conclusion is that the tanim-bala, especially if wrapped or in the pocket of the passenger, or in their wallet is true, can you do that, it seems very illogical,” he said.
Recomono then explained to the BusinessMirror the procedure, from the time the passenger places his or her bag into the open maw of the x-ray machine, until it exits at the outgoing end.
From the moment departing passengers enter the airport, they check in their pieces of luggage, including any handcarry bags or cases through the mouth of the x-ray machines. Then the passengers walk through the body scanner.
“Ang sinasabi ko sayo, tinanim ba dun? So you have the x-ray, you have the walk-through for the passenger, you have the operator, inspector, and two friskers, one male and one female, who do the ‘pat downs,’ and a ‘passenger controller,’ who announces if one had to divest himself/herself of any metal objects.”
That means there’s a total of five personnel present, four from the OTS and one from Avsegroup. Recomono said if passengers come “clean” they pick up their bags outside of the x-ray mouth, including their checked-in luggage.
“Normally on the average, it takes from seven to 10 seconds for the whole process, mabilis ’yan,” he said.
Recomono said a problem would occur when the x-ray inspector sees something worthwhile looking into closely, which would require opening the luggage, which should be done in the presence of the passengers and the OTS personnel.
“Ang nagkakaroon ng problema, ’pag nagkaroon ng inspeksyon, ang naglalagay ng kanya-kanyang dala ’yung pasahero—as a matter of procedure—para ma-x-ray, never ’yung screener,” he said.
“If someone points out that it was planted, did the screener do it? My answer is no, because it could not be done, because the screener is seated at his post, he could not do it. It is the passenger who placed the luggage,” Recomono added.
Recomono said it has been his policy, since he assumed office, for his men to record every incident at the airport. He assumed office in 2012.
In 2013 there were 2,184; in 2014, 1,813 and up to September this year, 1,540 incidents of various offenses were recorded by his men.
Recomono earlier explained the process leading to the discovery of the incriminating evidence, such as bullets and the subsequent moves by the authorities, “to put the situation in the proper context.”
“Normally, it is being equated to extortion or to get favors,” he said.
He said that what usually appears in the newspapers is that the extortion attempts are being done at what they call the “screening checkpoints.”
So far, Recomono said there were 68 OTS personnel who have been separated from the service “for grave misconduct,” a veritable salad of offenses that could include soliciting tips, which the OTS prohibits.
Airport officials said they would look deeper into the mulcting incidents. A task force, which has yet to be officially named, would eventually be formed to conduct the investigation.