Ninoy Aquino International Airport bullet planting scandal

Political controversy in the Philippines

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport bullet-planting scandal, locally known

as tanim-bala ("bullet planting") or laglag-bala ("bullet dropping"), was a scandal in the
Philippines that began in September 2015 and lasted until early 2016, in which airport
security personnel at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Metro Manila were
alleged to have planted bullets in the luggage of passengers in order to extort money from
them. Victims of the alleged plot were generally Overseas Filipino Workers, but also
included non-Filipinos such as foreign tourists.

At least thirty cases of the scheme were recorded in 2015, according to the Philippine
National Police Aviation Security Group (PNP-AVSEGROUP), while the Manila International
Airport Authority (MIAA) recording only five such incidents. The government denied it was
responsible for the scheme.

Bullet planting
The scandal became known on September 17, 2015, when a 20-year-old American
missionary, Lane Michael White, accused the airport's personnel of extorting ₱30,000 from
him after finding a bullet in his baggage. White, who was headed to Palawan, spent six days
at the airport police facility and was freed after posting a ₱40,000 bail. This was followed by
similar incidents involving Filipino and foreign passengers who were only freed after they
posted bail amounts of up to ₱80,000. In some instances, when the passengers were
arrested, they refused to pay any penalties because they denied bringing the bullets. The
passengers were freed only on the condition that they sign the logbook. The bullet-planting
scheme targeted passengers as old as 60, including tourists.

President Benigno Aquino III (son of Ninoy Aquino after whom the airport is named) then
ordered the Department of Transportation and Communications to conduct an investigation
of the alleged scheme. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) later confirmed that an
extortion syndicate was behind the bullet-planting scheme, based on their initial findings.
According to the NBI's investigation, some porters were involved in identifying potential
victims for the bullet-planting scam. Allegedly, airport officials in the security and
immigration services present in the four terminals of the airport then pursued target victims
after their identification by porters. The usual victims were the elderly and Overseas Filipino
Workers (OFWs).

Subsequent developments
On November 6, 2015, Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz announced the
creation of an inter-agency team tasked to monitor and assist OFW victims of the bullet
planting scam. The inter-agency team was to be composed of representatives from
the Department of Labor and Employment, the Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration, and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, among others; the team
would coordinate with the MIAA, the PNP-AVSEGROUP, the Office for Transportation
Security, the NBI, and the Department of Justice.

In a GMA News Online report published on November 24, a memo from the Office for
Transportation Security (OTS) dated June 3, 2015, showed that the OTS has a cash reward
policy for finding contraband items such as weapons and explosives at security checkpoints,
providing for rewards of up to ₱1,000 for explosives, weapons, "stunning devices" and
dangerous drugs found by OTS personnel or Security Screening Officers (SSOs). Transport
Security Risk Management Bureau assistant administrative director Roberto Almadin
confirmed the existence of the memo, but he said only two to three people had been given
rewards. He also asked the public to disassociate the memo from the laglag-bala extortion
scheme. The memo, signed by OTS administrator Roland Recomono, also stated that the
rewards were instituted "to boost the welfare and morale of OTS personnel". A later memo
dated July 8 had a revision of the category list, indicating that OTS personnel could claim
rewards for a single piece of explosive and for every five pieces of ammunition found per
month. Spocky Farolan, the legal counsel of an overseas Filipino worker who almost lost
her job due to the alleged scheme, said the memo's lack of publicity could make the public
more suspicious of the agency. The following day, the MIAA installed disposal booths at
NAIA to give passengers a chance to rid their bags of banned items.

On July 6, 2016, newly elected President Rodrigo Duterte ordered new Aviation Security
Group chief Mao Aplasca to its personnel that passengers caught with bullets would no
longer be arrested. They would just need to undergo profiling, and could immediately board
their flight after being cleared. "We assure the public that tanim-bala is already a thing of the
past. We will not condone any act contrary to the directive given to us by no less than
President Duterte,” NAIA stated. MIAA added, "Passengers found to have bullets or bullet-
like items in their bags are now allowed to take their flight after proper logging of the
incident. Prohibited items like bullets or ammunition whether as amulets or for any purpose
are subject for confiscation."

Complaint by Lane Michael White

On November 25, the camp of American national Lane Michael White expressed
disappointment in the Philippines' justice system, which they perceived to be slow in
resolving their laglag-bala case. White's camp expected the court to junk the case that day;
a counter-motion from former Office for Transportation Security screeners prevented this.
"Every time we come in here we're expecting it to be dismissed and it just keeps getting
kicked down the road so I don't know. We have hope in the Lord but our hope in the court
system here is fading fast," White's father, Ryan, was quoted as saying in a report from 24
Oras. White said his son was already feeling ill due to the stress he was facing from
repeatedly having to attend court hearings. He also said they were not pleased with
President Aquino's recent statement on the incidence of lagla-bala at NAIA. "If this is just a
few random bandits running around and extorting people, this would have been squashed
long ago. But the fact that it is still going on means that the entire airport is corrupt," he said.
Ryan White was alleged to have had a bullet in his luggage when he checked through NAIA
last September, possession of which is a crime in Philippine law. White's camp was
reported to be holding out hope that their case would be resolved the following week.

On December 10, 2015, the Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) pressed
charges against OTS employees and PNP-AVSEGROUP officers for allegedly trying to
extort money from Lane Michael White. The money allegedly asked amounted
to ₱30,000. They faced charges for Violations of Article V, Section 38 (Liability for Planting
Evidence) of Republic Act (RA) No. 10591 (the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition
Regulation Act); robbery/extortion; and violations of RA No. 7438 and RA No.
3019. The Department of Justice dismissed the criminal complaints against the employees
in June 2016 due to insufficient proof of evidence that they planted the bullets.

Reactions
Politicians
On October 31, 2015, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago filed a resolution at
the Senate calling for the creation of a task force to tackle the issue. On the same day,
Senator Alan Peter Cayetano called for the resignation of airport officials if they would not
determine and catch those responsible for the bullet planting incidents within 48
hours. Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao City, a presumptive presidential candidate in
the 2016 Philippine presidential election, further alleged that a syndicate is behind the series
of incidents. Duterte said the operation had been going on for more than two years.

In October 2021, six years after the scheme was first reported, former senator Antonio
Trillanes claimed that the left-wing Makabayan group was responsible for the laglag-
bala operation with an intention to discredit President Aquino's administration. The
controversy had been one of the issues in the 2016 elections; Duterte, who was elected to
succeed Aquino, said that his disappointment over the government's failure to handle the
issue prompted him to run for president.
Aquino administration
On November 4, former Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas, who was
the administration's presidential candidate for the 2016 elections, defended the government
over the controversy, stating that bullet carriers have to take responsibility, saying: "If you
enter the airport with contraband, then how does that become the government's problem?"
He further stated that government data showed these cases mostly involved tourists coming
from shooting ranges and had bullets for souvenirs. He told reporters that extorting money
from people was inconsistent with the administration's Daang Matuwid (Straight Path)
policy. During a press briefing at NAIA earlier that day, transportation officials said 6,000
similar cases had been recorded since 2012.

On November 23, during a coffee meeting with reporters at the sidelines of the ASEAN
Summit in Kuala Lumpur, President Aquino said that the statistics presented to him did not
necessarily add up to the possibility that an extortion racket exists inside NAIA. He said that
the controversy on the supposed laglag-bala extortion racket in airports had been
"sensationalized" and used by certain groups to put his administration in a bad light. He
expressed sympathy toward "innocent airport employees" who had been affected by the
controversy.

Internet
There was a public outcry among Filipinos on social media. An online petition decrying the
incident was started with about 12,000 people signing the petition as of October 31,
2015. Internet memes also spread on Facebook against the government and Roxas for their
downplaying, and/or denying, the laglag-bala scheme as a problem. One meme also
pointed out the MIAA chairman's (retired major general Jose Angel Honrado's) being a
cousin of President Aquino and the Department of Transportation and Communication
secretary's (Jun Abaya's) being a great-grandchild of turn-of-the-20th-century
revolutionary Emilio Aguinaldo (depicted in the 2015 historical epic Heneral Luna as a
possible traitor).

International
A Japanese TV show satirically re-enacted the scandal, showing the theory of how the NAIA
personnel may have supposedly planted bullets in travelers' bags. The host explained that
the personnel would plant the bullets in the travelers' bags at airport security. Upon finding
the bullets through the baggage x-ray machine, the personnel would open the bag to
retrieve the bullets and offer the victim a fine to skip questioning and detention. It then
showed footage of bags being wrapped in plastic.
Hong Kong news sites Hong Kong Free Press and The Standard published their own
reports over the laglag-bala scheme. On November 4, 2015, Fox News anchor Greta Van
Susteren on her program On the Record criticized Filipino airport authorities allegedly
involved in the extortion scheme. She also said in a Facebook post, "The Philippines may
get mad at me, but this airport bullet planting scam deserves to be called out!".