The Blunder of the “Tanim-Bala” Sucker

 
The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is one of those government workplaces where sharp suckers thrive profitably. Like those of their cousins at the Customs or at the Police organization, their actual pay is low, but they love to stick around. Not only because it is easy to moonlight as a sucker, but also the windfall is huge. It is like hitting a jackpot when one is hired in any of these places, where in all probabilities the primary criteria for getting in, is “connection” rather than competency.

To those suckers whose workplace is at the NAIA, at least, they don’t feel guilty as much for their bilking job. The Balikbayan, their usual victim, are more of a generous bunch. When touched by the pseudo extra helpfulness of the airport personnel, their hearts melt sometimes, they don’t mind sharing a bit of their little fortune in the form of tips. Those Balikbayan frequenting at the airport on a yearly basis, who have been accustomed of the tricks, yet get pestered, just not to get pissed further, would shell out some spare of whatever currencies they have – not in “pesos”, mind you – to get quick out of the airport.

The same is true when one departs. Once one’s luggage passed through the x-ray machine for screening, if the screener see items that they could convert into cash, say dried fish, a contact spotter would whisper to the owner of the luggage saying some prohibited items are in the luggage. Depending on the reactions of the luggage owner – and the suckers are good at this – if they appeared guilty, nervous, or tensed, the suckers then would paint a frightening scenario: that they would be in trouble, which they couldn’t get on their flight, or worse, that they would be put in jail. My brother in law shelled out 1000 pesos for the dried fish. These simplest forms of extortion, by the bulk, the daily take of the suckers is huge compared to their daily wage.

The infamous “Tanim Bala” is the most sophisticated, so far, of all the sucker’s schemes. The suckers are gifted with aids to keep their side-line flourish. One aid, is the Filipino penchant for bullet as an amulet, that it should be always with them, and the second aid is the specific law regarding the carrying of ammunitions. These two aids are heaven sent for the suckers. And, as if they covered all the bases, they do have a script to follow to extort money flawlessly and could get away with it.

The “Tanim Bala” schemes involved a process. More or less this is how suckers do it. Once the spotter pinpointed who the victim would be, he/she would be informed in whisper of the bullet found in his/her luggage, and it could be fix for a fee. If the victim caved in, that’s it. Done. Easy money for the sucker. If the victim denied the object, an accomplished would clandestinely put a bullet in the luggage and make it pass through the X-Ray machine again. The screener, of course, would see it, alert his accomplished, and show it to the owner of the luggage. If the victim panicked, and forked out money, that’s it. Happy are the suckers again. Now, if the victim has a presence of mind, cannot be intimidated, would call a lawyer or would make a scene, that’s a different story. This time around, the sucker would deploy their script for cover. The sucker would backtrack, would negotiate still for money, and will put out a waiver for the victim to sign – that the bullet found is just an amulet. Still, good money for the suckers.

However, there are victims, like Maria Paz Triaz who was stopped at the NAIA for her Flight to Singapore, on October 27, 2015, found to have bullet in her backpack who refuse to budge in. An older Lady Officer, said, “Let’s fix this”. But Maria with ironed determination would not like to pay, willing to be investigated on, and be detained.

When the sucker sensed Maria would play hard ball, the sucker halted her offensive and switched to defensive mode. The Lady Officer said, “Let’s keep it among us”. Maria signed a waiver that the bullet was her amulet, and they were allowed to board for their flight with no more harassment.

These suckers, if they could help it, didn’t want their “tanim bala” attracted public attention. That would be their Achilles heel, and would kill the duck that lay the golden eggs. But out of greed, and for years and years that the suckers had been used to not being caught, they feel immune and confident nothing untoward would happen, and so they continued to rampage on. It is not always hunky-dory, though, when these suckers crossed with Gloria Ortinez, a 56 year old OFW worker in HongKong, which generate too much sympathy for her ordeal. And also, when they let Lane Michael White, a missionary’s son whom they sent to jail, because also of the planted bullet found in his bag. His stepmother, who is a Fillipina refused to pay the 30,000 pesos these suckers demanded for his liberty.

The Whites narrated in the Tanim Bala Senate hearing how these suckers defensively deployed their cover tactics of pleading to the Whites to just admit they owned the bullet for the suckers to get out of the mess. Actually, these suckers didn’t want their scam to reach this stage. They made a colossal mistake. Unfortunate for these suckers because the Whites are Christian and don’t want to lie. Fortunate for the public because the “Tanim Bala” exposed how incompetent the NAIA is run.

Remembrance of Things Past

Two years ago I participated in a study conducted by The Canadian Longitudinal Survey on Aging (CLSA) It is a study where the CLSA gathers information on approximately 50, 000 men and women throughout Canada, between the ages of 45 and 85 for 20 years. The changes in biological, medical, psychological, social, lifestyle, and economical – all of these are factored in to understand how an individual or in combination, impacted the health maintenance in disease and disability development as people aged.

The study would have to establish a benchmark, therefore, CLSA conducted health tests on me for everything. I like that, because, at least, I would know which part of my body are susceptible to early deterioration.

One that stands out is my diminishing short term memory. And that explains why I sometimes lost my car in the parking lot. Why I always have doubts that I misspelled words. Why I wouldn’t recall at a snap of a finger certain name and faces… quite embarrassing, sometimes. Why I am not snappy anymore on recalling concrete details of what I saw, heard, or read. Why I am not that savvy anymore on “trivia” things.

I have the consolation, however. I rediscovered and reconfirmed that my long term memory is still intact and works fine. And that explains why events from 40 to 50 years ago – their details and themes, the majority of them are still with me. It’s like I have a certain compartment in my brain that store these things like a hard disk, that I can retrieve information at a moment’s notice.

One of the repositories of my long term memories, then, was my blog “i.jfernando.ph” of “i.dot.ph,” one of the Philippines Blog Sites then. When they closed shop, I housed my long term memories at (www.jessfernando1.wordpress.com), my current blog. Some of my long term memories in this blog deal with my juvenile escapades. Some were sad, but most of them were funny, which I can still vividly recall.

When I got into Facebook, as linkages of friends pops up here and there, some names rang like bells, which triggered my curiosity. Long time ago, I attached events to these names. Some of them were my classmates in the elementary and high school, or just a school mates. In this blog, on top of my head are three: Larry Wisco, Delor Lauchang, and Lutgardo Evangelista. There are others, of course, but they would be the subject of my future blogs.

Larry Wisco, was my classmate in Grade 5, I think. I remembered their house to be just the opposite of the Central Baliwag Elementary School, I know her Mom as a teacher and his Dad worked then at the Baliwag Municipality Office. The Central school could only accommodate up to Grade 4. So the pupils would have to go to the Baliwag Intermediate School to finish Grade 5 – 6.

I remembered Larry as a tall, skinny lad. He was a friendly, chatty sort of guy, with comely bearing. Could be, because he always wore starchy ironed clothes. Kids were drawn to Larry as he always mesmerized us of his personal stories totally different from the life stories of most of us, the ordinary kids. As a naïve boy then, I thought any words he said have weights.

One day he saw me eating this peeled green mango with red shrimp paste (bagoong) on top. I chomped the mango, which would make anyone salivates with envy. Larry came over, and said, “You know how those “bagoong” are made? I said, no. Why? Small shrimps are crushed with soiled feet, which can become the home of the maggots. I puked out. I tossed out the mango, fast. Larry chuckled as he left.

I had a chance texting Larry via Messenger of Facebook. I don’t think he even remembered me. More so, that mango event. He lives in Las Vegas now. I was inclined to tell him that story, but I thought he would be just wracking his brain to recall it. I dropped off a hint, though, to hold him suspense.

Neither did I had any personal interaction with Delor, nor he had been a classmate of mine either in the elementary or in high school; but we were school mates. Our first ever interaction was two years ago after 40 plus years. He appeared on my Facebook. As a kid, I looked up to him as my role model. His name clicked, so I texted him, “Who is your valedictorian when you graduated from high school?” I asked. I knew who his answer would be, just that I wanted to elicit a neutral reply. After all, I could be ignored, as he might wonder who the heck I am. “Tolentino Moya”, Delor texted back. “We were school mate, then”, I said. And that started the flurries of “updates” of people we both know and the town gossips.

I said Delor was my role model, because on weekends, as I passed by the “Ben Radio Shop”, his father’s shop, which sat beside the Henson Theatre, as I do my errands to town, I saw him always playing car toys of different kinds. I envied him. I thought then, only rich kids can play car toys. For a kid whose toys consist of banging stone and a spoon, I wished I could be able to play a car toy like him. One day, I saw him driving a car toy cruising along at P. Enrile St. (Benigno Aquino Ave., now) in front of Henson, as he was being chased by his father. I said, when would I ever have a car toy like that…?

Like Delor, I didn’t have any interaction with Lutgardo Evangelista. He didn’t even know me. But, he inspired me.

I was taking up my Secretarial Course then at the Bulacan Community College, in 1969 – 1970, Lou, as he was fondly called, always hanged out at the school. I was not sure if he was a student or just love to be there. One day, as he passed by the foyer at the entrance of the school, one student called him, “Lou, he said, “can you teach me how to interpret this poem “Trees” by Robert Frost. ”Yeah, sure”, Lou said.

My passion for writing had just began then, and I was curious how one can extract insights, subtext, and meaning beyond the lyrics of the poem. So, I eavesdropped and listened. I was impressed of the method Lou used in explaining every phrase of the “Trees”. He started with the general view, then going to the particular, then to the spiritual. And the metaphor he employed resonated so well. The full essence of his insights retained in my memory, so that after 30 years, I used it in one of my essays for my column, “Undertow Ripple” in the Filipino Journal, entitled “Parhelia”.

When Lou showed up on my Facebook, last year, I sent him a friend request. I considered it a big fluke, when he confirmed. Then, I learned from his posts, that he is a priest.