3 Manila airport staff fired after ‘tanim bala’ caper

 

The dismissed security staff trying to show images of the supposed bullet casing in Ruth's bag 

Philippine Transport Secretary Vince Dizon has ordered the dismissal of three airport security personnel at terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila after a video reminiscent of the “tanim bala” scandal 10 years ago, went viral.

In the video, 69-year-old Ruth Adel could be seen being stopped by the security staff as she was about to board her flight to Vietnam on Mar 6, saying she should go back to where the x-ray machine was, as their supervisor saw a spent bullet casing in her hand-carried bag.

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Adel resisted, and proceeded to empty the contents of her handbag, all the while upbraiding the staff for attempting to detain her on false accusation. No bullet was found, and the security guards walked away grinning.

Ruth's bag is shown being emptied of various items, including with a wad of US$ bills 

Within hours of the video being released, Dizon held a press conference to say that the three staff involved had been dismissed. He also promised to pursue the filing of an administrative case against them after an investigation is conducted.

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“We will not tolerate this kind of behavior against our citizens,” said Dizon. “So we are hereby announcing the termination of the people in the OTS (Office of Transportation Security) who were involved in this incident,” he said.

Dizon also warned that he is serious about going after errant personnel.

Dizon (in black) says he is serious about cracking down on staff who victimize passengers

“We are not fooling around here. Kung akala nyo nagloloko kami, nagkakamali kayo. Kung akala ninyo ginagawa namin ito for show, nagkakamali kayo,” said the visibly irked Dizon. (If you think we are pulling your leg, you are mistaken. If you think we are doing this for you, you are mistaken).

Malacanang was also quick to react, with Presidential Spokesperson Claire Castro announcing that President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has personally ordered an investigation into the case.

After the government’s quick response, Ruth and her daughter Cai who was with her on the flight, said in an online interview that it appeared that what the errant staff were after were the US dollar bills that she had stuffed inside a transparent envelope.

Ruth and Cai speak of their ordeal in an ABS-CBN interview

The two were already at the boarding gates of their Cebu Pacific flight to Hanoi when a female security officer told them they needed to take their hand-carried bag back to the screening desk as her supervisor saw a spent bullet inside it. 

“Anong basyo? Anong bala? Wala akong alam sa mga sinasabi ninyo. Senior na ako, bakit ninyo ginagawa ito? Maawa naman kayo sa amin,” Ruth said she told the security staff.

 (What casing? What bullet? I don’t know anything about what you’re saying. I am already a senior citizen. Why are you doing this? Have pity on us).

When she resisted, the supervisor who claimed to have seen the spent bullet in the x-ray machine came over and said it was not in the hand-carried luggage but in Ruth’s handbag.

Frantic because there were only a few minutes left before their flight was due to take off, Ruth emptied the contents of her bag which yielded only the money in the envelope, a comb, a rosary and a few other items, but no bullet.

Ruth said the three staff then turned their backs at them, after failing to stop them from recording everything that was happening on video, but offered no excuses.  

“Grabe ang nerbyos ko sa pangyayari at tumaas ang presyon ko. Hanggang ngayon ay napapanaginipan ko parin ang mga pangyayari sa akin,” said Ruth in her post.

“Ang buong akala ko nagbago na ang systema dito. Gusto kong mabigyan ng aksyon ito at ayaw ko ng may mabiktima pa silang iba. Ni hindi humingi ng paumanhin sa abala at perwisyo na binigay nila sa akin. Kapag hindi sila naturuan ng leksyon, patuloy ng mambibiktima itong mga opisyales na ito.”

(I was so nervous because of what happened that my blood pressure shot up. Until know I still have nightmares about what happened to me).

(All along I thought thing have changed. I want someone to act on this as I don’t want them to victimize more people. They did not even offer an apology for causing me inconvenience and distress. If they are not taken to task, they will continue victimizing other people).

The security staff tried to stop the filming of their encounter with Ruth and Cai

Ruth’s experience called to mind a series of incidents in 2015, when a number of passengers at Manila airport were arrested and held on charges of having bullets or bullet casings in their luggage which they were supposedly keeping as “anting-anting” or talisman.

This was partly prompted by cases in some places abroad, especially Hong Kong, where Filipinos were routinely arrested at the airport after their luggage yielded bullets, and charged in court for possessing “arms or ammunition,” no matter if they were fired, or spent bullets.

But in nearly all of the cases in this particular year, the bullets were found to have been planted by airport security personnel who found in them an easy way to extort money from hapless victims, many of them overseas Filipino workers.

From January to November 2015, more than 30 such incidents were reported at the airport, despite repeated warnings to outbound passengers that it is illegal to keep them in their belongings.

As the cases mounted, airport authorities repeatedly insisted that their security personnel had nothing to do with the scam.

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