Press Release
November 5, 2015

Sack MIAA GM Honrado immediately, Sen. Marcos urges Malacañang

Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos, Jr. today said Malacañang should immediately fire Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Jose Honrado for allowing "tanim bala" syndicate to operate in his turf with impunity.

Calls for resignation of Honrado snowballed following the public outcry against incidents of alleged "tanim bala" or the intentional planting of bullets into luggage of passengers, particularly OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) to extort money from them.

Marcos said that based on the principle of command responsibility Honrado is clearly accountable for the "tanim bala" extort scam that persisted despite the focus of media attention and public outcry against it.

"He should be fired immediately, he's clearly incompetent. He should never have been put in that job in the first place," Marcos told the Senate media during the weekly media forum "Kapihan sa Senado".

In fact, Marcos said that if it were up to him he would never even appoint Honrado as MIAA general manager.

"If it was up to me he would never have gotten that job. Bakit mo ilalagay dyan, wala naman syang karanasan dyan? Hindi naman nya alam ang trabaho," Marcos said.

The senator believes the root cause of the "tanim bala" scam could be traced from the penchant of Malacanang to appoint people not based on merit and good qualifications but solely based on their connections with people in power.

"Very specialized yang mga trabaho na yan yung pagpatakbo ng isang airport, lalo na you're the main gateway into the Philippines, dapat talagang nakakaintindi sila sa mga isyu sa pagpatakbo na yan. It's just incompetence, wala na tayong ibang masabi," Marcos said.

Marcos said the next administration should exert all efforts to address this problem.

"Kung maglalagay ka ng tao sa isang posisyon dapat meron kang kumpyansa na kaya nya yung trabaho na yun. Hindi mo ilalagay yan dahil may utang na loob ka sa kanya. Bayaran mo yung utang na loob mo sa ibang bagay, wag mong isakripisyo ang taong bayan," he added.

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