[4] The scandal became known on September 17, 2015, when a 20-year-old American missionary, Lane Michael White, accused the airport's personnel of extorting ₱30,000 from him after finding a bullet in his baggage.
[7] On November 6, 2015, Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz announced the creation of an inter-agency team tasked to monitor and assist OFW victims of the bullet planting scam.
Transport Security Risk Management Bureau assistant administrative director Roberto Almadin confirmed the existence of the memo, but he said only two to three people had been given rewards.
[9] The following day, the MIAA installed disposal booths at NAIA to give passengers a chance to rid their bags of banned items.
[10] On July 6, 2016, newly elected President Rodrigo Duterte ordered new Aviation Security Group chief Mao Aplasca to its personnel that passengers caught with bullets would no longer be arrested.
[12] MIAA added, "Passengers found to have bullets or bullet-like items in their bags are now allowed to take their flight after proper logging of the incident.
"[13] On November 25, the camp of American national Lane Michael White expressed disappointment in the Philippines' justice system, which they perceived to be slow in resolving their laglag-bala case.
White's camp expected the court to junk the case that day; a counter-motion from former Office for Transportation Security screeners prevented this.
[14] On December 10, 2015, the Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) pressed charges against OTS employees and PNP-AVSEGROUP officers for allegedly trying to extort money from Lane Michael White.
On the same day, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano called for the resignation of airport officials if they would not determine and catch those responsible for the bullet planting incidents within 48 hours.
[18] In October 2021, six years after the scheme was first reported, former senator Antonio Trillanes claimed that the left-wing Makabayan group was responsible for the laglag-bala operation with an intention to discredit President Aquino's administration.
[21] On November 23, during a coffee meeting with reporters at the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, President Aquino said that the statistics presented to him did not necessarily add up to the possibility that an extortion racket exists inside NAIA.
One meme also pointed out the MIAA chairman's (retired major general Jose Angel Honrado's) being a cousin of President Aquino and the Department of Transportation and Communication secretary's (Jun Abaya's) being a great-grandchild of turn-of-the-20th-century revolutionary Emilio Aguinaldo (depicted in the 2015 historical epic Heneral Luna as a possible traitor).
On November 4, 2015, Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren on her program On the Record criticized Filipino airport authorities allegedly involved in the extortion scheme.