TWO groups and a senator on Tuesday filed a complaint before the Ombudsman against the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and airport officials over the tanim-bala racket at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).
Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) Chairman Dante Jimenez, Network of Independent Travel Agents (Nitas) Chairman Robert Lim Joseph and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano accused Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya, Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Jose Angel Honrado, Office of Transportation Security Administrator Roland Recomono and Director Pablo Francisco Balagtas of the National Police Aviation Security Group of violation of Executive Order (EO) 226, or the Institutionalization of Doctrine of Command Responsibility in All Government Offices, particularly at all levels of command in the National Police and all government agencies.
The complainants also asked that the respondents be suspended pending investigation of the complaint.
“If our officials cannot solve these issues fast and ensure the safety and well-being of the people they were sworn to protect, then I see no point in making them remain in office. They should be dismissed and removed from their posts,” Cayetano said.
Jimenez, on the other hand, asked the Ombudsman to conduct its own investigation “to determine the extent of administrative and criminal liability of all the respondents and mete out penalties accordingly on the basis of the acts complained of, without prejudice to any finding of criminal liability and civil liability to the victims.”
Moreover, the complainants also asked the Ombudsman that, “in the event of a finding of neglect of duty under the principle of command responsibility under EO 226, the respondents Abaya, Honrado, Recomono and Balagtas be dismissed from office.”
House probe
AT the House of Representatives, several resolutions seeking to investigate, in aid of legislation, the tanim-bala racket at the airport.
In House Resolution (HR) 2477, Party-list Reps. Neri Colmenares and Isagani Zarate of Bayan Muna said that, with the trend of illegal activities prevailing over the country’s ports, complementing the, likewise, rampant instances of smuggling in the country, the current issues surrounding the tanim-bala scheme ultimately put into question the government’s efforts to protect the commuters and Filipino overseas workers.
Under the tanim-bala extortion scheme, perpetrators allegedly plant a round of ammunition or two in passengers’ luggage, “framing the hapless passengers for violation of Republic Act 10591, or the law governing the possession of firearms and ammunition, after having “extracted” the bullets from their luggage, and subject them to various forms of intimidation to force them to pay up in order to avoid the hassle of missing flights,” the resolution said.
The legislators said patterns of irregularities were also observed with regard to the conduct of terminal authorities in handling the cases.
In HR 2475, National Unity Party Rep. Magnolia Rosa Antonino-Nadres of Nueva Ecija said that the growing incidents of tanim-bala in the bags of local and foreign travelers and overseas workers at Naia have sparked widespread public condemnation through the print and broadcast media and social-networking sites.
“The serious efforts of the government to make the Philippines as one of the tourist destinations in the world will be put in jeopardy if this laglag-bala racket will continue unabated with impunity,” she said.
Scan Naia personnel
THE chairman of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development, Liberal Party Rep. Winston Castelo of Quezon City, asked the Manila International Airport Authority to subject all Naia employees to metal detector scanning upon their entry into their work stations.
Castelo said that the screening of Naia personnel would ensure that no one else would be committing the tanim-bala scheme.
“It is unthinkable why our balikbayan countrymen, who know for a fact that bullets will not escape detection, would subject themselves to such trouble and inconvenience. So, we can logically conclude that they were victims of this sinister plot of planting bullets in their luggage at our airport,” Castelo said.
Liberal Party Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles of Davao City asked the Department of Justice to conduct a special inquiry on the tanim-bala issue in order to get to the bottom of this extortion racket that has victimized hundreds of travelers, many of whom are overseas contract workers.
Nograles said there is a need to conduct an inventory of all past arrests due to alleged confiscation of ammunition and seek a review of all cases that were filed in court, including those that were already given judgment by regional trial courts.
Party-list Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz of Abakada, meanwhile, said that the only way for the Aquino administration to be able to get into the bottom of the issue is to remove Honrado and allow independent probers to investigate this scheme.
Party-list Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza of TUCP, on the other hand, called on Honrado to voluntarily resign to spare the President from further embarrassment.