Bomb on board

On August 14, an unidentified anti-terrorism expert, apparently trying to test Philippine security measures against terrorism, succeeded in boarding a flight from Manila to Davao carrying items that can serve as components in making a bomb.

He had in a shoulder bag a video camera and a power adaptor into which was stuffed C4, a military plastic explosive. In his jacket pocket was a cellphone that can be used as a detonator. In another pocket were wires. Finally, a blasting cap was taped to the sole of one shoe.

The man went through security checks at the Manila airport. He submitted the cellphone and other metallic items for x-ray and allowed himself to be frisked and scanned by an electronic scanner. He sailed through without incident and was allowed to board the plane.

When the plane was airborne, he left his seat and went to the lavatory, spending enough time there that it would take for him to construct a bomb and then returned to his seat. Not once did his activities arouse any suspicion.

He repeated the same routine on his return flight to Manila from Davao with the same success. Had he been a real suicide bomber, he could have blown a plane right out of the sky as it flew in either direction. And dozens of people could have been killed.

Worse, the impact of such an attack could have crippled the country's image further and caused unimaginable damage to an economy that is already reeling from other factors that have nothing at all to do with the economy, such as too much politicking.

And to think this happened just days after the London plane scare of August 11, in which an elaborate plot to blow up a number of US-bound planes from Heathrow and Gatwick over the Atlantic was preempted and uncovered in the nick of time.

Naturally, there were a lot of red faces among the concerned Philippine officials when the intentional breach of security was made known. There was a lot of scrambling to fix the gaps in the security blanket over the country's airports, seaports and land transportation terminals.

But by then, the scrambling would have been too late if the anti-terrorism expert had been a real suicide bomber. And more than just red faces, there would have been a real flood of crimson that everyone will have to deal with for a very long time.

But more than just the official embarrassment and delayed reaction, there still seems to be a lot of stonewalling on the part of a few who, rather than acknowledge the sting, would in fact shamelessly try to whip the situation around and find somebody else to blame.

Believe it or not, one such official, the general manager of the Manila International Airport, called a press conference and actually blamed the man posing as a bomber for supposedly playing around with the lives of people.

" Whether these were real explosives or not, whoever conducted the tests had endangered the flight, the lives of the passengers and crew, " he said. Wow. Of all the exculpatory hand-washing rituals I have ever seen, this one has to take the cake.

If there was anyone who endangered the flight and the lives of the passengers and crew, it was the security people at the airport who, by their negligence and inefficiency, allowed the " suicide bomber " through all the checks and into the plane.

This country will never break the barriers of helplessness and mediocrity until its leadership manages to set the proper examples for the people to follow. And the leadership will never get around to setting good examples if it cannot learn to accept its own shortcomings.