Not all officers are into ‘tanim bala’

Batas Mauricio

IN fairness to the Philippine National Police contingent at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), it is clear that, if ever there is a syndicate that “plants” bullets into luggage or bags of people travelling abroad, not all policemen at the Naia are involved in the now world-famous “tanim bala” scam.

I know. My own mother, Salvacion Haber Lazo Mauricio, experienced the same embarrassing incident when she was still travelling regularly to Los Angeles, US, in the not too distant past. She forgot, honestly, that a live bullet she had been keeping as an amulet in her shoulder bag was not taken out by her before she left for the airport.

Naturally, the bullet was found at Naia. Dumbfounded by the discovery, my mother did not know what to do. Yet, she managed to ask the police personnel at the airport to call me. I then asked if they would be preventing my mother to leave. I was told that, no, since my mother clearly had no criminal intent and the bullet already seized, the PNP allowed her to go to US, without further fuss, and that was the end of it.

Of course, as things at the airport now stand, it would seem that finding bullets at the luggage and bags of travellers has become a source of illicit income for some unscrupulous policemen and Naia employees. The story goes that, many travellers simply pay their way out, especially if they know they really own the bullets anyway.

Investigations must therefore be carried out soonest, and by credible officials at that. The longer this is unresolved, to the satisfaction of everyone, it is sure to give more black eye not only to the already discredited Naia with its decrepit facilities, but also to the country and to our people, who are now collectively regarded, officials and ordinary citizens alike, as a nation of thieves and grafters.

Already, Facebook posts of travellers covering themselves and their luggage with plastic to prevent “tanim bala” from happening to them now abound. This is totally absurd and shameful, and could even cause a repercussion among overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who may find themselves not only being ridiculed by their foreign employers, but separated from their employment as well.

If “tanim bala” is true, I again grapple with the question, how can our police and airport personnel resort to it? Indeed, “tanim bala” shows how low Filipinos have descended to, in their quest for easy, stolen, and illicit money. It also shows that we, as a people, have lost all traces of morality and righteousness, because we can now afford feed our families with stolen wealth.

Of course, many Filipinos will say, stealing is now a way of life for many of us, particularly politicians and officials of government who, publicly, espouse righteous principles. If the high and the mighty can go ahead and steal, why not the loweranked employees do it, too?

Indeed, Filipinos are in the forefront of proving the Biblical prophecy, found in 1 Timothy 4:1 and 2 Timothy 3:1 and the subsequent verses, which say that mankind will stop following sound teaching but will instead imbibe doctrines from the devil as the end nears. This is very sad, for, clearly, the penalty for this sinfulness is death, both here in this world and in the life hereafter.

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com