The "tanim-bala" plague

 President Aquino may have acted too little too late in ordering an immediate investigation of the "tanim-bala" extortion racket targeting airline passengers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

And perhaps he may have erred further in directing Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya to investigate the "tanim-bala” modus operandi. Abaya, after all, has not performed well at his DOTC post, with the MRT mess staring him in the face every single day. And Malacañang did not act until no less than six incidents had taken place in a week or so. It turns out that the scam had been taking place all these years, with airport authorities clueless about what’s going on under their very nose. Or maybe they're getting a piece of the action themselves.

Secretary Abaya cannot be expected to do an impartial investigation of the extortion racket because if he does, that would make him look bad for incompetence and not knowing what's going on in his turf. Perhaps it should be crack NBI investigators who should be interrogating those suspected of complicity in the scam, just to show that the government wants it to stop pronto.

While we're at this, the President should seriously consider firing the heads of the Manila International Airport Authority and the Office for Transportation Security for gross negligence and incompetence.

At the same time, media should not let virtual Press Secretary Herminio Coloma get away with his stupid statement that since there are only a few cases of "tanim-bala" happening at NAIA, then we shouldn't raise a fuss about it and perhaps let the criminals roam free and go about their merry ways. That's the "context" he wants us to understand. This display of official arrogance and insolence should not go unpunished.

A former National Security Adviser suggests that airport security personnel—that is, those who follow the daang matuwid, should just confiscate any bullet found in the bags of airline passengers and allow them to board their flights since they will no longer be a threat to anyone, except to the bank accounts of corrupt airport personnel. That's the most sensible thing we’ve heard about this issue, and we hope lawmakers are listening and amend the oppressive law on carrying of bullets, even just as amulets or good luck charms, punishable with long jail terms and stiff fines. 

Image by: twitter.com