Victims bare NAIA extortion in ‘tanim-bala’ probe

MANILA, Philippines - Two supposed victims of the tanim-bala extortion schemes, including an American yesterday narrated how security officials at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) demanded money in exchange for dropping criminal charges for possession of a bullet.

Lane Michael White, son of an American preacher, and Gloria Ortinez, an overseas Filipino worker, narrated their ordeals before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee.

White, accompanied by his stepmother Eloisa Zuleta, told the senators how airport security officers were demanding as much as P80,000 in exchange for dropping the investigation on the bullet supposedly found in his luggage.

Zuleta, who spoke for her 20-year-old stepson, said the officials were initially demanding P50,000 and warned the amount might increase if the case reaches their headquarters.

Zuleta recalled they were supposed to board their flight to Coron, Palawan on September 13 at NAIA Terminal 3 but they were questioned by a certain Maria Elma Senia and a certain Police Officer 1 Clarin after the x-ray machine found a bullet in Lane’s luggage.

Zuleta said she and her family were traumatized after experiencing the harassment by the personnel of the Office of Transportation Security (OTS) and later from the Philippine National Police-Aviation Security Group.

She added their baggage already underwent routine inspection a day before at the same terminal but their flights were canceled and they were asked to come back the next day.

The victim, along with his parents – Zuleta and Ryan White – came all the way from the US before taking their domestic flight.

Zuleta even recalled Senia as telling her that she should have owned up to the “crime” to avoid further inconvenience for Lane.  

“Tulungan mo na yung anak mo (help your son). Foreigner yan…magugulo buhay niya (he’s a foreigner, he’ll be in trouble),” Zuleta quoted the security officer as telling her.

“I know that’s the easier way out and I am pregnant. I told her we are Christians, we cannot lie just to get an easier way out,” Zuleta told the Senate panel. 

Lane was subsequently charged after they refused to give in to the demand of P50,000 from the OTS.

Another officer supposedly told them that the amount would be higher if they choose to settle the case at the level of the PNP-ASG.

Since Lane maintained he did not own the bullet, he was subsequently charged. He stayed six days and five nights at the police detention area.

White’s case remains pending at the Pasay City prosecutors office since the OTS personnel hired a private lawyer to represent their case, her stepmother said.

They decided to bring the case before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in a bid to bring charges against security personnel but lamented the investigation has not moved.

Ortinez, for her part, also tagged certain inspectors from the OTS after she was brought to the detention center, where there were insinuations that she merely admitted to carrying the bullet, wrapped in a red pouch, to avoid any more problems.

She identified a certain Ballesteros as among those who talked to her during the investigation of her case.  

Ortinez, accompanied by OFW advocate Susan Ople, said she was so nervous about what happened that her blood pressure shot up while under OTS custody.

She recalled she even did not get to sleep when she spent the night at the holding area.

Had her daughter not arrived from Ilocos the next day, Ortinez said she would not have known what to do because she did not want to admit possession of the bullet found in her carry on baggage. 

She said she was not given any lawyer but she said she was lucky to get help from Spocky Farolan, a lawyer who helped her at the Prosecutors Office.

Ortinez recalled that she was even singled out for being an Ilocano.

“They were asking me where I came from, then I said that I am from Paoay, Ilocos Norte. They remarked ‘Ay, Marcos,” she said referring to the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos and his family.

“Then I decided to speak no more,” she added.

When asked by Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. why the NAIA personnel mentioned his family, Ortinez replied: “Yes sir, which is why I spoke no more, I fear (saying more than that).”

Ortinez was supposed to board a connecting flight to Hong Kong from Laoag when she was prevented from leaving the country last October 25.

Most of those caught with bullets in their luggage were charged but were eventually ordered released by Pasay City prosecutors for lack of probable cause.

Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Willy Chan dismissed the illegal possession of ammunition filed against Ortinez.

The prosecutors stressed that authorities needed to establish the malevolent intent to possess and use the bullet for a criminal purpose. – Edu Punay, Evelyn Macairan, Rudy Santos, Mayen Jaymalin