By: Jerome Auza
To the embarrassment of many Filipinos, the “laglag bala” or “tanim bala” scandal at NAIA became viral throughout the world on social media. The scheme involves planting of bullets in a passengers bag before or during the x-ray inspection. The passenger is then threatened with a being filed a case for illegal possession of ammunition. Because the passenger wouldn’t want to miss the flight, he or she is then offered an option to pay money in order to be cleared.
The matter became viral as more and more people who were became victims to the scam publicized their own experience on social media. Unfortunately, the national government’s response is slow and most of the time, just sending to the public the wrong message.
It has been featured in various international news networks. There is even a newly developed mobile app game that is a parody to this modus operandi. In Japan, someone created a parody of the scheme in a comedy show.
Here are some statements from our government:
“It’s just an isolated case.”
“Put issues in the proper context.” – referring to the thousands of passengers going through the airport without problems versus the “few” being victimized.
“Allegations of laglag-bala or bullet-planting scheme must be validated first before the government takes the necessary long-term actions”
Add to this a callous comment from a presidential candidate endorsed by the current administration: “Kung nagpasok ka ng contraband sa airport, paano naging problema ng gobyerno ’yun?”
This just creates the impression that the government isn’t giving this issue a priority. They should have responded more swiftly at high priority. The APEC conference is happening later this month with government officials from the APEC members traveling through NAIA. Now with this issue gaining international attention, the government needs to exert much more effort to assure the safety of travelers.
Meanwhile, a plastic wrapping service at the airport is happy with the brisk business every day as more people line up to have their luggage wrapped in clear plastic to avoid being victimized.
I travel fairly frequently and my last trip in October was a stressful one as I had to be extra watchful as I stepped out of the plane and got into the NAIA terminal. My very early morning flight deprived me of sleep. So while waiting for my connecting flight, I was fighting to stay awake. I wanted to ensure that my bags were not going to be planted with contraband.
With all the fees and travel taxes I have to pay, I can’t even relax at the airport anymore. I use a very well traveled backpack that has several pockets that are fairly easy to access. The laglag bala operators can easily slip in a bullet in one of those pockets. I should replace it with a much secure bag.
What our government should realize is that social media will spread news very fast across the Internet. Specially if it is bad news. It should respond differently and much faster compared to the way they do now. It should carefully draft its statements so that they are seen as serious in solving an issue. Their recent statements created the impression of a “wait and see” attitude which is unacceptable for the public.
The government may have huge influence over the traditional media firms but they can’t control the community of social media users and independent bloggers who would just voice out their opinion immediately. An inappropriate statement from the spokespersons can be taken out of context unintentionally or intentionally to the disadvantage of the government. They won’t have any influence at all on the international news agencies.
Downplaying the issue is simply an incorrect response because just one tanim bala incident out of thousands of passengers is enough to sow fear among travelers. Maybe our government officials need training about social media so they understand the impact of their actions or inaction on issues similar to the laglag-bala scheme.