• An elderly woman was held at NAIA after a bullet was found in her luggage
• The 75-year old grandmother, who was bound for the United States with her husband to visit a daughter, denied owning the bullet
• The couple were brought to the DOJ for investigation
An elderly woman who was leaving for California, USA with her husband was held at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 (NAIA-1) after a live bullet was found inside her carry-on bag on Tuesday afternoon, April 19.
Ariel Fernandez wrote in his article published by Manila Bulletin on April 20, 2016 that the 75-year-old grandmother, Salvacion Cortabista, and 78-year-old husband, Esteban, were supposed to visit a daughter in the United States.
The Cortabista couple was able to get past the initial x-ray scanning counter without a hitch, but they were stopped at the second and final x-ray inspection at the departure area after members of the Office for Transportation Security found a live bullet for a caliber .38 pistol in Salvacion’s bag.
The couple denied owning the bullet.
Emy, daughter of the septuagenarian couple who went with them to the airport, went hysterical after the incident. She said they made sure no banned items were in their bags before going to NAIA.
The bags went through two other x-ray machines without any trouble, she added.
Esteban said he never imagined something like this would happen to them.
“Hindi ko sukat akalain na mangyayari sa amin ito. Wala naman kaming ganyan…bala. Magsasaka lang kami, papaano kami magkakaroon ng bala,” he lamented.
(I never imagined this would happen to us. We don’t have that kind of thing, a bullet. We’re just farmers, so how could we have a bullet?)
The couple was brought to the Department of Justice (DOJ). After hours of investigation, they were released. The DOJ set the preliminary hearing on May 3.
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