Listening to Roland Recomono, head of Naia’s Office for Transport Security, explain the bullet-planting incidents, one need not wonder why there are lapses and the extortion racket proliferated. Interviewed by Ces Drilon on the ABS-CBN News Channel, a straight-faced Recomono said the discovery of bullets on airline passengers is more frequent than drugs hidden in their baggage because “drugs in airplanes do not pose as much danger as bullets.” The interviewer could not believe what she heard as she had posed the question why a single bullet is always discovered but millions of pesos worth of drugs are able to slip through the OTS scanners. She was referring to the four Filipino women nabbed in Hong Kong for trying to smuggle drugs from Manila.
Strangely no Filipino has been caught with bullets in other airports abroad. It’s only here at the world’s worst and most dangerous airport.
Recomono’s reasoning raises serious questions about how he was placed in charge of a sensitive government agency. And we thought no one else could out-nonsense his boss, Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya. Appearing before a Senate committee hearing, Abaya squirmed and assured Senator Grace Poe that a full investigation is under way even as he said earlier the bullet-planting incidents were blown up by the media and a plot by the political opposition to derail the presidential bid of ruling Liberal Party candidate Mar Roxas.
We will probably see less stray bullets finding their way into airline passengers’ bags during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting this week. Or else, heads will roll for embarrassing the host country.
Former Senator Panfilo Lacson has a plausible explanation why the airport extortion racket could continue after Apec despite the media publicity and public outrage.
“For the people behind the scam to stop would be admitting such a racket exists, which is why there will be no let-up,” said Lacson, former Philippine National Police chief who knows how criminals think and operate.
Abaya was also grilled at the Senate inquiry for the Metro Rail Transit’s daily breakdown due to a crack in the rails, a non-working signaling system, doors that won’t close or a roof that leaks when it rains. Abaya again assured the senators that the MRT service will improve when five additional wagons from the Chinese company Dalian are delivered and harnessed before the end of the year. It is doubtful though that five additional wagons will ease the problem of congestion with more than 500,000 commuters riding the public railway system daily to avoid the horrendous traffic on Edsa which Abaya said “does not kill.”
Meanwhile, the two American missionaries who were victims of the “tanim-bala” scam are pushing their complaints against two airport screeners who allegedly planted evidence and then tried to extort money from the pair. Michael Ryan White and his son, Lane, were in the country to build a church in Coron, Palawan. Now, they cannot even leave because of a hold departure order against them
On the other hand, the bullet possession case against domestic worker Gloria Ortinez was dismissed by the Pasay City fiscal’s office which found the charge against her as without basis. But because she was detained for a week and had to attend the hearing of her case, it is said Ortinez has lost her job in Hong Kong. She should sue and file a criminal case against the two airport security screeners responsible for her economic dislocation.
How Apec affects us
How does Apec affect us? Retired Sandiganbayan Justice Raoul Victorino posed the question to me as a former ambassador and someone who had attended two Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in Bangkok and Vancouver.
I told him that Apec is basically an economic gathering meant to improve the economies of the participating member countries through globalization, fair trade and leveling the field of business competition. Sadly, I said, the poor in this country who are supposed to be beneficiaries of inclusive economic growth are swept under the rug or hidden from view of the guests so they won’t be an embarrassment to the host.
So how does Apec really affect us?
APECtado ang domestic and international flights. APECtado ang road traffic sa Metro Manila, APECtado at kanselado ang mga klase. APECtado ang hanap buhay ng mga sidewalk vendors. After APEC, everything will be back to normal—chaos at the airport and on Metro Manila’s streets.
The biggest beneficiary of the Manila-hosted Apec is the German carmaker BMW which won the lease contract for the fleet of brand-new, all-black limousines rented for the use of the heads of states attending the leaders’ summit. The Department of Foreign Affairs which signed the lease said the cars will be driven by Philippine National Police personnel. The VIPs of course will still have their personal security with them and others following in another vehicle.
