Murders at the NAIA

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The killing of a town mayor from Zamboanga at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport was shocking enough, but what made it more despicable than others of the so-called “riding in tandem” murders was the fact that other people were also hit, including a very young child who was the victim of what must have been a stray bullet.

The killers of Mayor Ukol Talumpa of Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur, were not content with finishing him off, since he was their obvious target, they also gunned down his wife, and a nephew in their frenzy of destruction. And not only that, they also killed 18-month-old Phille Thomas Estoesta and caused injuries to his mother, grandmother, and another child, 3-year-old Dhiane Philip Uy.

As recounted by the victims, the gunman seemed to have no regard whatsoever about whom he would hit, and just kept on firing at will. What kind of inhuman fiend could the shooter be, with his lack of regard for other human lives, just so he could finish off the person he must have been contracted to kill?

The airport incident was horrible enough, especially when it was noted that the facility did not even have the foresight to install the close circuit cameras that have, so far, proven very useful in solving a lot of pretty crimes in offices, commercial establishments, and even residences. Shouldn't the management be made liable for what happened, not only to the mayor and his kin, but for all the others also harmed by it?

There are reports that airport security personnel are not the best that could be expected to guard such an important facility where thousands of Filipinos and foreign travelers come and go everyday.

There seems to be something rotten in the way that airport is being run, and perhaps only a shake-up as that being poised in several other government agencies is overdue.*