Macariola, believed to be the unnamed man in the Philippine Daily Inquirer
report on September 1, allegedly sneaked components for a bomb and assembled
it in a commercial plane flight on Aug. 14, undetected by tight airport
security.
The report said the man was a civilian antiterrorism expert tapped by
a "government official" to test security measures at Philippine airports.
Duterte admitted he hired Macariola, a civil engineer who graduated from
Adamson University in Manila.
The mayor's staff readily handed folders containing a copy of the contracts
signed for Macariola's employment and his resume.
But he denied having ordered Macariola to carry out the test (Read related
story).
Macariola, 42, signed a six-month contract on July 3 with the city government
as a consultant on managing firearms and ammunition services from July 1 to
December 31.
Duterte described him to have "very good credentials." As consultant,
Macariola receives P10, 400 monthly salary from the City Mayor's Office,
aside from representation and travel allowances.
As consultant, Macariola serves as Duterte's adviser on firearms and
ammunition management services and to provide remedial firearms and safety
training for city-paid law enforcers. He could also represent the mayor in
meetings, dialogues, seminars, conferences, symposia and other activities
that has something to do with firearms and ammunition, and perform other
duties and functions as may be assigned by the mayor in accordance with
existing laws, rules and regulations.
In his five-page resume as of 2003, Macariola's work experiences from 1990 to
2001 included working in six institutions as consultant and as a professor.
He served as consultant of two gun stores and a security agency, as
consultant-gunsmith of Quezon City-based Ardiz Guns and Ammunition and Willi
Hahn Enterprises and as a professor at the Philippine National Police Academy
in Silang, Cavite for a semester.
He described himself as having skills such as ' gunsmithing', law enforcement
equipment training, combat shooting, metallic reloading, shotgun reloading,
tactical pistols and shotgun training, surveillance and counter-surveillance
operations, explosives and IEDs or improvised explosive devices.
Macariola is a freelance trainer listing 12 trainings with at least nine
institutions including the National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine
Military Academy, the Philippine National Police and Task Force Davao in
2003, five months after the airport bombing.
He also indicated that he authored a book "Basic Technical Facts about
Firearms and Ammunition" in 2000, a copy of which was shown by Mayor Duterte
to reporters on Sept. 6.
In his personal comment on his resume, he said, "in executing a certain
mission or operation, or perhaps in their daily encounters with criminal
elements, it's important for every law enforcer to know what a certain weapon
can and cannot do. This ignorance on the technical side of firearms and
ammunition leads to a much bigger error on the side of the law enforcer that
leads to civilian casualties, as well as casualties on the side of the law
enforcer."
Mayor Duterte told reporters Wednesday that as an expert on explosives,
Macariola knew that the mere possession of explosives is unlawful.
"We have to visit the mind of the person," Duterte said. "There are only
three possibilities, either he is craving for recognition, trying to set a
standard for airport security, or just 'purely hubris'," "the mayor said.
Duterte stressed that they have not confirmed yet if the Samson Macariola he
hired as consultant is the same person interviewed by journalist Arlyn dela
Cruz.
"Look for him and ask him why he did that," Duterte urged the media.
The alleged breach in airport security left aviation security officials red-
faced and prompted stricter security measures in airports nationwide.
The Philippine National Police-Aviation Security Group debunked Macariola's
claim as a hoax but said his employer could be liable for breaching airport
security and conducting an unauthorized anti-terrorism test.
Duterte spoke to the media debunking insinuations that he was the government
official who allegedly tapped Macariola to do the test. He called Macariola
a "liar" and vowed to slap him if he shows up although he said his consultant
could no longer be reached or has called him.
MindaNews sought Macariola's side of the issue but the two mobile phone
numbers he listed in his resume "could not be reached" on September 7.
A woman answered the house phone he gave but said Macariola was not at home.