The Philippine National Police will conduct a lifestyle check on some members of the Aviation Security Group particularly the suspects in the alleged bullet-planting extortion scheme at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
This developed as the Justice department clarified that the Aquino administration was not downplaying the bullet-planting incidents, and said these were only “sensationalized” in the media.
Police Director General Ricardo Marquez said he was acting on the directive of President Benigno Aquino III to take concrete steps in addressing the growing controversy.
The PNP already asked officials of the Manila International Airport Authority and Office for Transportation Security to furnish them documents and other papers on the case.
Marquez said a special team will also study the documents regarding the bullets confiscated by both the OTS and Avsegroup personnel and to whom these were turned over.
President Aquino had ordered the PNP, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Transportation and Communications to investigate the scheme.
But during his recent visit to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, the President insisted that the issue has been blown out of proportion and was just sensationalized by the media, saying only a handful of 34 million passengers have complained about the scam.
Justice Undersecretary Emmanuel Caparas said the “President had a message there and it had nothing do with the downplaying.”
“He is very concerned about the issue. He has given us instructions on how to resolve this as quickly as possible and he had very good points to share with us,” Caparas said.
So far, 10 members of the PNP-Avsegroup and more than 17 OTS personnel were relieved from their posts after the scam broke out.
Among those relieved were Avsegroup-NCR chief Ricardo Layug, chief investigator Eugene Juaneza, Chief Insp. Adriano Junio, and Senior Police Officers Romy Navarro and Rolando Clarin.
Eight other members of the Avsegroup assigned to the Naia Terminal 3 were also relieved and placed under investigation.
Avsegroup community relations officer Vicente Castor said those relieved were transferred temporarily to their main headquarters pending the investigation initiated by the Department of Justice.
Layug, on the other hand, was replaced by former Las Piñas City police commander Senior Supt. Adolfo Samala.
Avsegroup officials clarified that the relief didn’t necessarily mean they were involved in the extortion and other irregularities happening in the airports.
Last month, two other Avsegroup personnel—Careen De Padua and Rommel Ballesteros—were relieved from their post after the bullet in the investigation report on the case Filipino domestic helper in Hong Kong Gloria Ortinez did not match the one presented before the Pasay City prosecutors office.
The two policemen handled the case of the 56-year-old Ortinez, who was placed under airport police custody for two days, for allegedly bringing a bullet at the airport. Ortinez was about to take a connecting flight from Laoag Airport to Hong Kong on Oct. 25 when she was apprehended.
Lawmakers and lawyers of the victims alleged there is a syndicate operating at Naia terminals victimizing passengers by “planting” bullets in their luggage
OTS chief Rolando Recomono had admitted that at least 65 personnel were already dismissed since 2012 but he clarified that they acted on their own and were not part of a syndicate.