In Sep 2015, 20-year-old Lane Michael White, an American Missionary, was traveling to Palawan with his father and stepmother when they were stopped at the X-ray scanner area of NAIA Terminal 4.
A security guard found a .22-caliber bullet in the pocket of his luggage after repeatedly scanning it on the X-ray machine.
He denied that the bullet belonged to him, and refused to pay the PHP30,000 that a male NAIA security personnel had asked from him to make the problem go away.
He was detained for five days by the airport police.
On Dec 14, White, who was the second tanim-bala case reported last year, was finally allowed to leave the Philippines.
In a resolution released on Thu, Jun 23, the Department of Justice junked the criminal charges filed by the National Bureau of Investigation, on behalf of White, against six airport police officers and personnel.
“Cleared were Police Inspector Adriano Junio, Senior Police Officer 4 Ramon Bernardo, and SPO2s Romy Navarro and Rolando Clarin, all of PNP-ASG, and OTS personnel Marvin Garcia and Ma. Elma Cegna,” reports The Philippine Star.
The reason? Lack of probable cause.
“We believe there is no sufficient proof to establish a case against SPO2s Clarin and Navarro, SPO4 Bernardo and Inspector Junio for robbery and extortion,” the resolution reportedly said.
According to Star: “The DOJ clarified that while White was ‘wronged when he was made to face an offense that he did not commit,; there was no probable cause in his allegations against the airport personnel.”
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