Bambi Eloriaga-Amago
Last September 17, Eloisa Zoleta was able to film how the laglag bala scam was run on her American stepson, 20-year-old Lane Michael White, to allegedly extort thirty thousand pesos from them.
In the video as posted on GMA News Online, it can be seen that as the American’s luggage exited x-ray machines, Office of the Transport Security (OTS) personnel opened and then rifled through the luggage. A few of the contents were taken out of the bag and then put aside in a blue plastic bin. The security personnel, identified as Marvin Garcia and Maria Elma Cena, looked as if they were searching for something. They then put the luggage through a second pass at the x-ray machine. At this point, personnel called Zoleta’s and White’s attention to questionable items seen in the x-ray.
“Ano yan?” (What’s that?) Zoleta can be heard asking.
“Bala, bala po yan,” (Bullet, it’s a bullet,) answered the security personnel.
While detained by the Aviation Security Group, her stepson continued to deny bringing bullets in his luggage. Zoleta narrated that they were then allegedly asked by a policeman to hand over thirty thousand pesos to avoid having charges filed against them. When security personnel noticed that Zoleta was filming the events, they were angrily told to stop.
White, a theology graduate from Florida, was on his way to Palawan to look for a site to set up a church as part of their organization’s outreach program in the Philippines. But because of the trauma he experienced, his family wants nothing more than to go back to the US.
White’s lawyers clarify that what Zoleta did was not against wire-tapping laws “kapag gumawa ka ng hakbang (if you are taking measures) to defend yourself.” They plan to use the cellphone footage as part of their motion to dismiss the illegal possession of ammunition charge filed against White.
The GMA news report can be viewed below.
