EDITORIAL — Malacañang like a bibingka over bomb flap

Malacañang wants charges filed against the man who claimed to have sneaked bomb components into two planes to test the anti-terrorist capabilities of Philippine commercial aviation. It says the exercise was not officially sanctioned.

Is it saying then, that had the exercise been officially sanctioned, it would have been all right to carry bomb components into a plane? At the outset it said the exercise endangered the lives of people. Is it now saying official sanction would have minimized the danger?

It is very clear Malacañang, whose participation in the war against terror is more of verbal calisthenics that actual ability, is clutching at straws to save itself from the global humiliation it has had to endure as a result of one man's unilateral experiment.

It is in a state of panic. It does not know what to do. It does not even know what to say. Now, it is about to embark on a legal face-saving gambit that has the hallmarks of failure written all over it.

For one thing, in case Malacañang missed seeing it in its panic, all that the world knows about what really happened on August 14 on flights from Manila to Davao and back is what Samson Macariola himself claimed having done.

Macariola claimed he brought bomb components on board the planes on both occasions without getting detected and spent in the lavatory roughly the time it required to construct the bombs without arousing suspicion. He never said he actually made the bombs.

Whatever it is, though, we only have Macariola's word for it. And with that, the legal experts at Malacañang should be reminded that Macariola cannot be made to testify against himself.

That leaves the burden of proof on the security authorities at the airports in Manila and Davao. But we do not see them admitting that bomb components managed to slip through under their noses. That would mean their jobs. The best thing to do here is shut up and learn our lessons.