A MEMBER of the House of Representatives on Friday called for a top-to-bottom revamp of the Office for Transportation Security (OTS), now under fire for the series of “laglag bala” and mulcting incidents that have victimized a number of departing airline passengers.
Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian of Valenzuela City call for a total revamp at the OTS was prompted by the revelation of Liberal Party Rep. Noel Villanueva of Tarlac that he, too, fell prey to the laglag bala syndicate while he was leaving for abroad sometime in August 2014.
The OTS, which is under the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), is the agency in charge of the x-ray scanning machines where luggage of departing passengers, both checked-in and hand-carried, pass through before check in at the airline’s counter.
Villanueva made the disclosure on Tuesday during the House Committee on Transportation’s hearing on the budget of the DOTC and its attached agencies.
Gatchalian said it was alarming that OTS personnel carry bullets in their pockets. This, he said, is already a breach of security at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).
“There is no question that OTS personnel have already lost their credibility and it is but proper that a top-to-bottom revamp be made by Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya Jr. in order to rectify the breakdown in security at the Naia,” said Gatchalian, who had 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 added: “It is bad enough that such nefarious activities being committed by OTS personnel are causing an embarrassment to the Naia and as an institution. But what’s worse is the serious threat it poses to our tourism industry and the overall security of our airports.” He said it is high time for Abaya to personally address the issue by ordering a total revamp of OTS personnel and assigning new personnel with untarnished record to man the x-ray machines in all Naia terminals.
“This is the height of mismanagement on the part of the Naia and the DOTC. How can they assure us of airline safety if the very people who are supposed to protect us are the suspects? Matagal na pala itong nangyayari, but Secretary Abaya doesn’t have a clue,” said Gatchalian, a majority member of the House Committee on Tourism.
At least two laglag-bala incidents have been reported. The two victims were first-time American tourist
Michael White and a wheelchair-bound balikbayan who had to pay P500 to the airport security personnel to be allowed to leave the country.
White, a 20-year-old missionary from Florida, was detained for five days by airport police for allegedly concealing two caliber .22 rounds in his checked-in baggage, which was “discovered” by the x-ray scanner at the Naia Terminal 4.
White alleged that a male security man told him that his problem will be settled for P30,000.
The latest incident to surface was that of an overseas worker returning to Hong Kong after a brief vacation in Manila in May 2015 whose bag was rummaged by a woman “screener” shortly after coming through the x-ray and her HK$500 allowance forcibly taken.
The worker posted her experience on Facebook, which went viral.
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I have a long list of places to visit as a tourist. Philippines is crossed off the list.