Honrado on ‘tanim-bala’ menace: ‘I’m not in the loop on filing of cases’
THE head of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) was put in a hot seat on Thursday when he admitted during a Senate hearing that he did nothing to look into the filing cases of the people who claimed to have been victimized by the alleged “tanim-bala” scam in Manila’s airports.
MIAA General Manager Jose Angel Honrado made this admission in response to a series of questions thrown at him by Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
“What did you do about it?” Marcos asked.
“Your honor, I’m not in the loop on the filing of the cases,” Honrado said.
“What did you do to look into the case? You did not look into the case,” the senator asked again, this time referring to the case of Gloria Ortinez, an overseas Filipino worker, who earlier narrated to the joint hearing of the Senate blue ribbon and public services committees on the scam.
“No, I did not because I’m not in the loop on the filing of the cases…” the MIAA chief said.
“It’s sufficient for you to receive a report that there were certain individuals were found to have bullets, allegedly found to have bullets in the bags? And that’s the end of the matter as far as you’re concerned?” Marcos asked.
Honrado said as far as he is concerned, the Philippine National Police followed the due process and it was reported to him.
Marcos then asked about the MIAA chief’s reported statement that he has no control over the 22 agencies that are under his jurisdiction, which he confirmed.
“If you have no control over the agencies in the airport, what is your job?” asked Marcos.
“Your honor, its coordination…” said Honrado.
“But how can you coordinate if you can’t control?” the senator said, noting that in the military, there is command and control.
“You can’t coordinate without command and control,” the senator added.
“Your honor, there is none,” Honrado said, pointing out the “delineation on the legal mandates of every organization.”
“So you say that you have no responsibility for any kind of problem that comes into the airport? Ano’ng trabaho ng General Manager,” Marcos asked again.
Responding to the senator, Honrado said his main job is to ensure the “smooth flow” of airport operations.
