IT used to be that we wanted tourists to come because “It’s more fun in the Philippines.” Now it is looking very much like we don’t want them to come anymore, not evenour own returning OFWs. The government’s stupidity in not abruptly stopping what is clearly a “laglag-bala” scam is all over the internet and we, our stupidity, corruption and all have become the laughing stock of the sane world.
For crying out loud, it’s only a bullet. Even if “it qualifies as live ammunition” it is still just one stinking bullet. What security threat could a traveler possibly pose with a bullet and no gun? Obviously nothing. So what the heck is the big deal? Why can’t airport authorities simply disallow and confiscate it the way they routinely confiscate bottles of water and perfume, cigarette lighters, pocket knives, etc.?
Even granting that one or two travelers actually carried a bullet or two, you would think they would stop it after hearing of the fate that befell the first couple of victims of the scam. The fact, therefore, that bullets keep getting found in carry-on bags after the first one or two cases of detention could only mean these are planted by airport security personnel to extort money.
It is so obviously a scam that one has to be either stupid or in cahoots with the scammers to think twice or go into prolonged probes, such as what I hear Congress intends to do, before stopping it altogether.
Secretary Herminio Coloma’s pathetic appeal for folks to put the issue in “proper” perspective is also insensitive of Malacañang. But anyway, how about this for perspective, Mr. Secretary?
The police officers who sold 1,000 AK-47 rifles to the New People’s Army (NPA) have only been dismissed from office but have not been detained pending the filing of appropriate charges. Are you saying this act of treason is not a security threat? Yet, there they are free to roam around, while for one stinking bullet a traveler is detained as a security threat.
Reacting to the increased rage of citizens after Coloma’s statement, President Noynoy Aquino’s order to probe the incidents is still a very weak and compromising answer. There’s nothing to probe except perhaps into the identity of the political patrons of the scammers.
This is just too clearly a shameful scam. Instead of asking for people to view it in perspective, instead of going into bureaucratic probes, Malacañang should simply order the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) manager to stop these corrupt practices of airport personnel or face outright dismissal.
P.S. I started writing this during a long lay-over in the sky lounge of the Incheon (South Korea) International Airport on my way to Los Angeles. I could see why it is rated the best airport in the world.
There I also saw why NAIA is one of the worst.