One of the country’s Vice Presidential bet this coming 2016 elections, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano filed an administrative complaint against the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya and executives of the NAIA at the Office of the Ombudsman over the alleged “tanim bala” scam victimizing passengers in the country’s main international hub.
Sen. Cayetano filed the complaint with Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption chairperson Dante Jimenez, asked the Ombudsman that preventive suspension order be issued against the DOTC Secretary and Manila International Airport Authority general manager Jose Angel Honrado, Office for Transportation Security administrator Roland Recomono, and Philippine National Police-Aviation Security Group (PNP-Avsegroup) director Pablo Francisco Balagtas for neglect of duty.
The complainant cited Executive Order No. 226 or the Institutionalization of the Doctrine of Command Responsibility in all Government Offices, Cayetano said an official is presumed to have knowledge of irregularities “when illegal acts have been committed within his area of responsibility” such as “tanim-bala” incidents.
If the officials will be proven guilty of negligence, Sen. Cayetano wants them to be dismissed from office. The senator also noted that it took one month before the government investigated the cases of “laglag bala” at NAIA.
The alleged extortion racket involves some security officials inside NAIA who supposedly insert bullets in the luggage of passengers and ask them for money in exchange of dropping charges of illegal possession of ammunition.
Pres. Aquino already ordered an investigation into the “tanim-bala” incidents and instructed Sec. Abaya to look into the matter amid growing public outcry.
