Philippine government sacks airport staff involved in ‘bullet-planting’ scheme

Security officers working at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) in Manila have been terminated from their positions due to their involvement in a “bullet-planting” scheme.

“Bullet-planting”, locally known as “tanim-bala”, is a known scheme orchestrated by airport officers in order to extort money from passengers by planting bullets or any other small prohibited items in bags during security checks.

The infamous ploy was first recorded in 2015, when an American missionary accused security officers at MNL Airport of extorting PH30,000 ($525) after allegedly finding a bullet in his personal belongings.

The latest recorded incident occurred on March 6, 2025, when a 69-year old woman travelling to Vietnam claimed that she was targeted by MNL Airport security officers with the said scheme, which made her miss her flight. This time, the officers claimed to have found an amulet in her belongings, which she said was not hers. 

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The woman’s daughter, who was traveling with her, managed to capture footage of the incident, which showed  the security officers rifling through her mother’s bag and claiming that an amulet was seen in the X-ray. However, no amulet was found and the officers, who can be seen smiling at each other in the footage, covered their name plates to prevent themselves from being identified.

On March 10, 2025, the country’s newly-appointed Department of Transport (DOTr) Secretary, Vince Dizon, announced that the three security officers from the Office of Transportation Security (OTS) had been dismissed following allegations of their involvement in the extortion scheme.

“I hate to do this. I know how hard it is to lose a job, but I hope we are sending the message loud and clear to the government and everyone who works at airports, ports, railways: we will not tolerate this sort of behavior. So we are hereby announcing the termination of all employees in the OTS who were involved in this incident,” Dizon said during a press conference, which was also streamed live on the DOTr’s social media pages.

Dizon also ordered the review of security protocols at MNL Airport to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

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