National embarrassment

AIRPORTS are high-security facilities, and there should be no room for unprofessional, inefficient or crooked conduct especially in restricted zones such as security screening areas. Yet such dismaying behavior has been on display right in the country’s premier gateway, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

On Monday, March 1 a screening officer of the Office for Transportation Security was arrested on charges of stealing the smartwatch of a Hong Kong-bound Chinese tourist at the NAIA Terminal 1. Reports said closed-circuit television footage showed the Chinese placing his watch and other personal items on a tray for x-ray screening at the departure area. As the tray emerged from the machine, the CCTV footage showed OTS screener Valeriano Ricaplaza placing another tray on top of the first one and, according to his superiors, taking the watch. Ricaplaza, who denied the theft, was taken into custody by the Philippine National Police Aviation Security Group. His arrest followed the sacking of five other OTS employees who were shown in a viral video pocketing 20,000 yen from a Thai tourist at the NAIA Terminal 2 on Feb. 22. When confronted by the tourist, the five returned the cash. Another Thai tourist recorded the incident and uploaded it online.

at the departure area. Instead of looking at the person being patted down, the woman was looking away and dissolving into thrilled giggles. Since when did airport security screening become a fangirl event? The OTS said personal video recording is prohibited at airport security areas. ENHYPEN fans also wondered why a woman was conducting a body search on men.

Thievery is not the only problem. Last Feb. 6, another viral video showed a female OTS screener patting down members of Korean boy band ENHYPEN as they emerged from x-ray screening

BABE ROMUALDEZ

SOME of our senators who are still doubtful about the decision of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to allow new Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites should realize that now, more than ever, we need to strengthen our ties with the United States to beef up our capability in addressing existing and potential security threats to our nation and people, both traditional and non-traditional, such as cyber and climate change.

Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez said it correctly – the projects under EDCA are intended to develop our defense capabilities and are certainly not intended for aggression; neither should they be taken to mean that we are preparing for war. Undoubtedly, we should be ready to defend ourselves for any eventuality, especially in light of the tense geopolitical situation that could become precarious.

But while we will continue to

PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Romualdez Marcos Jr. should stop being the Mr. Nice Guy of the Philippines.

He should start taking decisive, even harsh actions on the following:

1. A creeping crime wave

2. Rampant corruption

3. A stubborn raging inflation

Crime wave

In just 17 days this year, there have been four highprofile political assassination attempts; three of them in just five days. Sixteen victims died during the four attacks, including the governor of large Cebuano-speaking province (1.5 million population) and a town mayor.

At 9:45 am. of Saturday, March 4, masked killers in army uniforms and brandishing high-powered firearms barged into the residential compound of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo and killed him on the spot, together with six other bystanders. The murders were

The OTS had reassured the public after the incident that it “shall never tolerate any unprofessional behavior” toward passengers. It is unclear if the woman ever faced sanctions for her behavior in a high-security area. The OTS reported that since July last year, 14 of its employees have been dismissed and three suspended while six cases of misconduct remain under investigation. Beyond catching erring personnel and slapping them with appropriate administrative or criminal charges, the OTS must tighten its recruitment policies and improve training for its screeners. Airport security screening is a serious matter. Leaving the task to amateurs, thieves and giggly fangirls can only lead to national embarrassment. (Philstar.com) explore all diplomatic means to resolve issues, we should not also turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to the clamor of the people to stand up to those who attempt to arrogate to themselves what is ours – as seen in the continuing incursion of Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) and militia vessels in areas that are clearly within our maritime territory.

For centuries, Filipino fishermen have relied on the traditional fishing grounds of Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, Recto (Reed) Bank, Pag-asa (Thitu) Island in the West Philippine Sea for their livelihood. But for so many years now, they have been enduring the continuing harassment from Chinese Coast Guard and militia vessels, depriving them of their livelihood, very often having to stay away from the resourcerich waters due to “bullying” from Chinese vessels.

Those who were desperate enough to enter the fishing grounds recount being shooed away, subjected to threats and intimidation, their fishing ropes cut, their boats water-cannoned or worse, attacked like what captured by CCTV.

On Feb, 17, Lanao del Sur Gov. Mamintal Adiong was ambushed. The governor survived the assassination attempt but his driver and three police escorts died.

On Feb. 19, the vice mayor of Aparri, Cagayan, Rommel Alameda, and five companions, were killed in an ambush.

On Feb. 22, Maguindanao del Sur Mayor Ohto Caumbo Montawal was wounded when two gunmen fired at his vehicle in busy Pasay City.

In the national capital, way back in August 2022, there were reports of “serial killers and gang members using a white van were behind several reported cases of murders and other crimes.”

In June 2022, President Duterte’s last month, there were 15,651 index and non-index crimes, per newspaper reports.

In July 2022, BBM’s first month, 30,802 index and non-index crimes were reported. Index or focus crimes include: murder, homicide, physical injury, rape, and car theft. Index crimes do not large-scale corruption like smuggling and the plunder of pork barrel. The Philippine National happened in June 2019 when a Chinese trawler rammed a fishing boat near Recto (Reed) Bank. If not for the Vietnamese fishing crew that heard their cries for help, the 20 Filipino fishermen who were drifting in the water as they clung to plastic barrels and pieces of wood from the wrecked fishing boat could have drowned.

As one fisherman put the situation they are in, “We are being forcibly driven away from our own territory. They are making us feel as if we are stealing from our own backyard” – so ironic and deceptive, considering that the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of which China was a signatory clearly states that countries have sovereign rights to exploit or conserve natural resources that are within 200 nautical miles of their exclusive economic zone.

According to a report by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Chinese Coast Guard vessels have patrolled key areas in the West Philippine Sea, with their presence detected almost every day in 2022. The Washington-based think-tank also noted the presence of the CCG in areas near Vietnamese and Malaysian oil and gas sites.

Numerous diplomatic protests have been filed by the Department of Foreign Affairs over the continued incursion of Chinese vessels – as many as 77 under the administration of President Bongbong Marcos, with 10 of them filed in the first two months of 2023.

In fact, the Philippines is not the only country that has been complaining about intrusion from Chinese Coast Guard and other vessels. In 2021, Malaysia summoned the Chinese ambassador to protest the presence of Chinese vessels within Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone. Vietnam and Indonesia have also accused China of intrusion in areas where gas and oil exploration activities are being conducted, such as in Natuna Sea.

It’s extremely disappointing that some of our former diplomats who are totally uninformed are naively asking for the cancellation of the EDCA – an agreement whose constitutionality has been affirmed and reaffirmed by the Supreme Court. Senator Koko Pimentel has the right frame of mind when he said that while he may disagree with EDCA, the Philippines as a sovereign nation is “free to enter into treaties and agreements which we believe are, or will be, good for us.”

Some agree with Senator Risa Hontiveros’ statement that we must forge security agreements with other countries to defend the Philippines and maintain peace and security in the West Philippine Sea.

“A security agreement can serve as a defensive framework that would provide for joint patrols and training of our troops so we are prepared to work as part of a team should tensions escalate,” she said, also noting the support shown to the Philippines by members of the international community when a Chinese Coast Guard vessel pointed a military-grade laser at a Philippine Coast Guard vessel in Ayungin shoal.

In fact, the Philippines is looking at multilateral cooperation with countries such