The Standard - 2015 November 03 - Tuesday

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VOL. XXIX NO. 264 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 TUESday : NOVEMBER 3, 2015 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Help line for victims of bullet scam up

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‘bala’ incidents rise 775% in 2015 By Joyce Pangco Pañares, Maricel V. Cruz and Sandy araneta

THE number of passengers apprehended with bullets in their luggage has shot up 775 percent this year, from only 12 incidents in 2014 to 105 cases from January to November this year, data from the Philippine National Police Aviation Security Group showed.

In a phone interview, Supt. Jeanne Panisan of the PNP AvSecGroup attributed the spike not to an extortion racket at the airport but to “tighter security screening.” This year’s figure is the highest recorded in four years, with only 20 passengers apprehended in 2012 and 21 passengers in 2013. Panisan said the arrests this year

yielded 514 bullets, 24 magazines, 20 firearms, 139 accessories or parts of firearms, and 20 replicas. An airport official said Monday at least 40 personnel of the Office for Transportation Security are under investigation over allegations that they planted bullets in the luggage of unsuspecting passengers in an attempt to extort

money from them. But Manila International Airport Authority spokesman David de Castro said the OTS personnel cannot be immediately fired as they might be “demoralized.” The OTS personnel being investigated, however, will have their airport access passes revoked as part of the protocol. Next page

Bullet-proofing. Migrant Filipino workers at the airport wrap plastic around their luggage to prevent corrupt officials from planting bullets inside them and then shaking them down for money. Danny Pata

Poe seeks more time to answer charges

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Aquino family reclaims Hacienda Luisita By Christine F. Herrera PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III’s family has managed to reclaim ownership of the 6,453-hectare Hacienda Luisita, reducing the farmer-beneficiaries who were supposed to own the land under the agrarian reform program to

sakadas or plantation workers, a federation of agricultural workers said Monday. The Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura disclosed that Aquino’s family sold the Central Azucarera de Tarlac to a businessman, Martin Lorenzo, but the company remains under the control of the

family, through the President’s first cousin, Fernando Cojuangco, who is a first cousin of the President. UMA acting chairman John Milton Lozande said the sale was made to avoid paying back farmerbeneficiaries some P1.33 billion in proceeds from the sale of lands in

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