{"id":64886,"date":"2015-11-17T04:13:06","date_gmt":"2015-11-17T10:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=64886"},"modified":"2015-11-17T04:13:06","modified_gmt":"2015-11-17T10:13:06","slug":"escudero-questions-the-role-of-ots-and-miaa-in-bullet-planting-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/11\/17\/escudero-questions-the-role-of-ots-and-miaa-in-bullet-planting-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"Escudero questions the role of OTS and MIAA in bullet planting scam"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sen.<\/a>
Sen. Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero (Chiz Escudero’s Facebook page)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Senator Francis \u201cChiz\u201d Escudero wants to clarify the exact roles of the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) and the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) after they pointed fingers on the bullet planting scam in the country\u2019s airports.<\/span><\/p>\n

Escudero wants the OTS to explain the memorandum they issued recently that will create an \u201cairport security organization in each airport serving civil aviation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The memo issued on Sept. 2 by OTS chief Roland Recomono states that the airport authority (MIAA and OTS) should create an \u201cairport security authority\u201d that will be responsible for \u201ccoordinating the implementation of security controls and procedures at each airport.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The airport authority, according to the memo, was created to provide assistance to the airport security in each airport and to \u201cestablish and implement an airport security program.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf the OTS is the single authority responsible for transportation security, then what is the role of the MIAA and all these other security authorities whose creation is mandated by the new memo?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo many authorities and committees and organizations are involved in airport security, but at the end of the day, when something goes wrong, no one claims responsibility. Just look at the people surrounding the \u2018tanim-bala\u2019 victims,\u201d Escudero said in a report by Maila Ager of Philippine Daily Inquirer.<\/span><\/p>\n

MIAA General Manager Jose Angel Honrado admitted on last week\u2019s Senate hearing that he was out of the loop in the \u201ctanim-bala\u201d cases, and had no control over other agencies in the airport.<\/span><\/p>\n

The OTS was created by the virtue of Executive Order 311, designating it as \u201cthe single authority responsible for the security of the transportation systems of the country, and are also in charge of security screening of passengers, baggage, and cargoes, and hiring, retention, training, and testing of security screening personnel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The recent memo from OTS, an office under the Department of Transportation and Communications only \u201cmuddles the responsibilities for airport security\u201d according to Escudero.<\/span><\/p>\n

He added that OTS should explain the memo they released and should give a clear picture of who is responsible for what in the airports, and to identify each agency\u2019s role and get rid of redundant functions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe government is spending some P10 billion to host this major trade meeting and project the strength of the Philippine economy; we can\u2019t possibly let a few bullets finding their way into random bags ruin the good image we\u2019re building here,\u201d he said in a report by Philippine Daily Inquirer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Escudero added that\u00a0The MIAA and OTS should know by this time what each agency\u2019s role in airport security, so that all will know who to look for when problems arise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Senator Francis \u201cChiz\u201d Escudero wants to clarify the exact roles of the Office for Transportation Security (OTS) …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":24564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,95],"tags":[249],"class_list":["post-64886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news-ph","tag-rewrite","mauthors-mavelle-p-durian","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}