P30,000 demanded

American missionary Lane Michael White and his stepmother Eloisa Zulueta testified at the Senate on Thursday that Aviation Security Command (AVSECOM) police officers demanded P30,000 to drop the case against White, adding if it goes up to higher headquarters, the amount will go up to P80,000.

Zoleta said the extortion demand was made by a certain Police Officer Junio. White also testified that police officer Rolando Clarin also told him he could pay P30,000 or go to jail. But White insisted he did not own the bullet and he didn’t have the money.

Also present at the Senate hearing was Gloria Ortinez, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW), who was also accused of possessing a bullet in her hand-carried bag.

The case against her was dismissed by Pasay City Assistant Persecutor Willy Chan. “A bullet is a harmless article without the corresponding gun or firearm to fire it,” Chan said in a resolution dated November 11. He also ruled that Ortinez was an OFW and had no reason to possess the ammunition. Chan also established that the bullet found in Ortinez possession was different from the one submitted to the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office.

Ortinez was detained for two days before an inquest was made, she had to sleep at the AVSECOM room at the airport and was not provided food. 

Who will pay for the damage suffered by White and Ortinez? They had to pay a rebooking fee. Ortinez is unsure of whether she still had a job waiting for her in Hong Kong.

Former Labor undersecretary and migrant workers advocate Susan Ople called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to completely withdraw the illegal possession of ammunition case filed against Ortinez so she could return to her job as a household service worker in HK.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) or Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) should pay compensation to ‘tanim-bala’ victims whose cases have been dismissed. Better yet, let the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) pay from its intelligence funds, since the Senate probers noted the apparent lack of due process in the handling of the “tanim bala” issue by their department.

Senator Ralph Recto raised the question why out of 1,800 apprehensions, only 75 cases were filed. Recto asked: “Were the 1,700 cases fixed for a fee demanded and paid?” 

Several persons testified they gave money as much as P20,000 or lower so they will not miss their flight.

Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) chief Persida Rueda-Acosta interceded on behalf of 12 persons charged with possessing ammunition and was able to get their charges dismissed. Acosta presented a Supreme Court (SC) decision that there is no case if there is no intent to possess ammunition.

DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya accepted the suggestion that a help desk manned by PAO be immediately set up at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) or OWWA should join PAO and assign a team of lawyers at the airports. 

Because of his failure to curb the number of travelers who are caught in local airports with bullets in their bags, critics or netizens believe that Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Jose Angel Honrado should be sacked by President Benigno Aquino as soon as possible.

Moreover, Honrado and Office for Transportation Security (OTS) administrator Rolando Recomono even tried to pass the buck to each other the responsibility of producing the CCTV footages of the tanim-bala victims while being screened and supposedly found to have contained a bullet in their bags.

The DOTC has been telling the media that they are cooperating with National Bureau of Investigation, yet the OTS has not surrendered any CCTV footage for investigation.

Another judge killed

Judge Wilfredo Nieves, presiding judge of Malolos Regional Trial Court Branch 84, was killed in an ambush in Barangay Ticay, Malolos City.

Judge Nieves had convicted notorious carjacker Raymond Dominguez for carjacking. He was also linked to the murders of car dealers Venson Evangelista and Emerson Lozano. A P2 million reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest of the killers.

Sixty-year-old Enrique Tan Fresnido, a traffic enforcer of the Quezon City Department of Public Order and Safety (DPOS), was shot dead by Banco de Oro (BDO) security guard Alex Batacan.

Ex-Officio Board Member Abraham M. Ibba, SPO3 Erwin Baldemosa, SPO2 Ronald Castro, and driver Banny Hasan were wounded in an ambush in Bataraza, Palawan.

Tidbits

Former University of the East College of Law Dean Amado Valdez has filed a fourth disqualification case against Senator Grace Poe before the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Valdez said in his 33-page petition that while Poe reacquired her Filipino citizenship, she is not qualified in the 2016 Presidential elections on the following grounds: Assuming that Grace Poe was a natural-born citizen, she lost her status as natural-born when she renounced her Filipino citizenship in 2001 to become an American citizen. She never regained her natural born status. At best, she is a repatriated Filipino citizen under RA9225. Poe has not completed her ten-year residency reckoned, at the earliest, from July 2006 when she re-acquired her Filipino citizenship, and at the latest on October 20, 2010 when she renounced her American citizenship.

Movie Actor Daniel Padilla has been enlisted to help in the Mar Roxas campaign.