American victim of ‘tanim-bala’ scam asks court for speedy ruling

FIILE: Lane Michael White, Eloisa Zoleta and Ryan White testify at the Senate’s probe on the ‘tanim-bala’ scam
(Screenshot from Inquirer.net footage)

Lane Michael White, the American missionary who was nabbed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for allegedly violating the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act when a .22 caliber bullet was allegedly found in his luggage asked a Pasay City court on Wednesday to immediately rule on the case filed against him he and his family have been suffering of his ordeal.

“I hope the case gets dismissed soon so we can go back home,” White was quoted as saying in an Inquirer.net report.

White said that he had lost significant weight since his ordeal began. He also contracted dengue fever and had just recovered from it.

The Whites, composed of Lane; his father, Ryan, an American missionary; and his Filipina stepmother Eloisa Zoleta, have been “financially dislocated” because of the indictment against Lane, Ernesto Arellano, Lane’s legal counsel told Judge Pedro de Leon Gutierrez of Pasay Regional Court Branch 119 as he asked the court for a speedy ruling on the case.

Arellano argued in their motion filed in Nov. 11 that Lane was a victim of the bullet-planting scam at NAIA. Closed-circuit television videos that have been submitted in court showed White’s luggage passing through the scanner five times before the airport security personnel found a bullet in his luggage.

“Garcia was also using his bare hands when searching the luggage instead of letting the owner unpack his belongings to check for the suspicious item,” Arellano, referring to Marvin Garcia, one of the two airport personnel who inspected Lane’s luggage, said in the same report.

Garcia and Ma. Elma Cena, the two NAIA luggage inspectors were not present in the past two hearings of Lane’s case. In the reply submitted to the court by Cena and Garcia’s counsel, they insisted that the case should proceed.

White was given three days by the court to reply to Cena and Garcia’s statement.

“Upon submission of the said reply, this motion to dismiss the case filed by the accused will be submitted for resolution,” the court said in the same report.