First, from the blog Vicissitude by Bambee dela Paz:
Friday, December 26, 2008
The world has gone crazy.
So, I just had the worst day of my life.At around 1:30 PM today, at Valley Golf and Country Club, Antipolo City, Mayor Nasser Pangandaman, Jr., Mayor of Masiu City, Lanao del Sur, his father, Secretary Nasser Pangandaman of the Department of Agrarian Reform, and company, beat my defenseless 56-year-old dad and my 14-year-old brother to a pulp because of some stupid misunderstanding on the golf course.This is a golf course. I have been a golfer all my life, and I have never seen anything like this. NOTHING. This is hard to comprehend. And it happened to my own father and my own brother too. Right in front of my eyes.My brother and I were playing golf at the South Course of Valley. We were on the 3rd hole, and we see two golf carts going past us, overtaking our flight, and setting up to tee off on the next hole. My dad goes up to them and asks them why they would do that, why they would overtake us without even asking for our permission. Golf etiquette 101. One of the guys says that they're with the flight in front of us. (So what? That doesn't give them the right to just pass us WITHOUT asking.) So, we go to the 5th hole. The flight behind us catches up with us, and asks us what caused the hold up. We said that this flight just slipped in front of our flight. So we complained to the marshall. We play the 5th hole and walk towards the next hole, where there is a teehouse, and both the flights in front of us were there, talking with the marshall. The mayor of Masiu City, Lanao del Sur talks with my dad. Things get heated up. Voices were raised. But never, in my wildest dreams, did I ever imagine that someone would pull out a punch. Apparently not. He attacks my father. His flightmates, maybe 2 or 3 of them, rush to his aid and beat up my father. My 56-year-old father. My younger brother and I could not just watch. We rushed to break the fight. My younger brother pleads to the mayor to please stop it. To not hurt my dad. To just stop. His words still ring through my head..."Sorry na po, sorry na po...tama na...tama na po..." With his hands in front of his chest in a praying position. PLEADING. The mayor socks him in the face. My brother defended himself. My dad is still on the ground getting clobbered. My brother is the same way. I try to stop the fight, but all I can do is stop one person. There were 4 or 5 of them attacking now.Someone breaks up the fight. I thought it was all over. The mayor shouts to his caddy: "Hindi nila kami kilala! Sabihin mo nga sa kanila kung sino ako!" And believe me, I had no idea who this person was. But now I know. He's the person who, with 4 other men, beat up my 56-year-old father and my 14-year-old brother. He's the person who sacks a pleading 14-year-old kid in the face. He's a person who, I am sure, is gonna rot in hell.I lash out, but my dad held me back. I was screaming my lungs out, shouting to this mayor, telling him about what he had done. I said: "Nakakahiya kayo. Singkwenta'y sais anyos ang tatay ko. And kapatid ko kakatorse anyos. Anong ilalaban nila sayo?"The mayor looks at my brother, point to his face, and says, "Tatandaan kita!" And he tells me that my brother has a bad attitude and that I need to watch him. WHAT THE HELL?! So, my brother's bad for defending his father?!We leave. We walk to the clubhouse to file a complaint. My brother asks for a doctor. My dad could barely walk. Their group comes to the clubhouse, sees my brother. Once again my brother pleads, says sorry, and is crying. He was CRYING, for crissakes. But no. The relentless mayor still punches him in the face, and then sees my dad and goes after my dad again. Him and his friend pull my dad to the ground, pulls at his feet, and steps on him like he's dirt. I run to him and try to hold him back, holding him back by his shirt, while this other guy and this girl tries to stop me. She tells me to just stop it. I scream in her face "they're beating my father up and you want me to stop?!" I pull at his shirt--I don't let go. All I can see was my dad being trampled on. I didn't even see my brother getting beat up.People pull them away. I get my dad, and I saw my brother. His right ear was bleeding. I freaked out. I told the receptionists to bring my brother to the clinic. I pull my dad away. People were separating us.My mom and my older brother come. I tell her Bino's right ear is bleeding. They both look like they could kill. My dad holds my brother off, I hold off my mom. When I finally got my mom under control, my older brother gets away and I hold him off. Two of the mayor's bodyguards pull out guns. I embraced my brother from the back, just holding him back, crying. The receptionists came to us, crying, hugging me, my dad, and my mom, whispering to us to just leave. "Maam, umalis na po kayo, may mga baril sila...Maam...umalis na po kayo please..."I am pretty sure the Secretary of DAR did not take part in the fight, but he just watched all this happen. He watched two of his sons, as we figured out, the other guy was his son, too, beat up my father and my 14-year-old brother. He didn't do anything to stop it. And this person is what now? A cabinet member. A politician.Sounds like something out of a movie, doesn't it? But this is what happened. TODAY. The day after Christmas. To my family. And all I ask for is JUSTICE. The people at Valley Golf did not seem to want to help us. None of the security guards even tried to stop the fight. Right in the clubhouse. I came back after the fight was over and talked to the receptionists. They say they did not see anything. The general manager of Valley Golf would not give us the names of the men who made my brother's ear bleed. It took him an hour. Maybe even more than that. He seemed to not want to help us. Because, we were against the SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRARIAN REFORM and the MAYOR OF MASIU CITY, LANAO DEL SUR. They were all scared.The world has gone crazy. Two politicians beat up a defenseless 56-year-old father and his 14-year-old son. At a golf course. I swear to God, I thought golfers were decent people. You would think politicians were decent people. I guess not. I guess they gang up on 56-year-old men and beat up pleading 14-year-old kids.Please pray for my dad, my brother and for my whole family. Please pray that we get JUSTICE. Oh God, please, give these people what they deserve.
Posted by decidido at 8:34 AM 1338 comments
Next, an email from a certain Jay Cruz (macj88@pldtdsl.net). Please note the mail addressees.
Subject: [ValleyLumberjacks] Fwd: dela paz - pagdamananTo: "Valley Lumberjacks"
"Hi everyone,
For those who are following the Valley brawl, the email below was forwarded to me by Jimmy General of the Ateneo Golf Foundation. He probably got this from Pinoygolfer. com, where blogs about golf are written by members of this site. I don't know who RGE is, but he says in his blog that he was able to talk to the head of the fact-finding committee.
I will not ascertain that this blog narrated what really transpired but it is good for all of us to keep an open mind before passing judgement on who was at fault in this incident.
Jay
An article from Pinoygolfer. com as written by RGE...FYI.
I just spent some time with the head of the fact-finding committee. He has submitted all pertinent facts to the board and leaves it to them to make the necessary decision based on all the facts. I will outline the facts to you as it was outlined to me. Rest assured that the facts were obtained from all parties involved and all witnesses at each incident site. The statements were obtained both by the valley fact-finding group and by the NBI as well. Testimonies were recorded, verified, and re-verified. Fortunately for the parties involved, there were always witnesses to give supporting statements on the events as they occurred. I will compose the outline shortly as it will be lengthy but just to whet your appetite or get you thinking, you will be quite surprised with the findings. Let's put it this way, the people we thought of as villains weren't quite what they were depicted to be. and the supposed protagonists may have yet been quite as factual in their testimony as it turns out to be. Even our 14-year old isn't as innocent and "prayerful" when all the details come out. just give me a few minutes.... In the interest of making sure that no facts might be left undisclosed, I will take it upon myself to start from the very beginning. Firstly let us start by saying that on or at about 12:40 p.m., the party of the Pangandaman' s registered at the starter's area. They registered for 2 flights comprised of 4 individuals per flight. Unfortunately, they still had 2 members of their group that had not yet arrived, so they initially tee'd off as 2 successive threesomes. The starter and marshall were informed that the 2 individuals that had not yet arrived would just catch up with them in the fairway. On or at about 1:05 p.m. the Dela Paz group registered initially as a twosome but since this isn't normally allowed, they registered as a 3-some even if the elder Mr. Dela Paz was not really going to play. When the Dela Paz 3-some was playing on hole number 3, they were passed by 2 golf carts containing Mayor Pangandaman and his companion (in one cart) and the caddies being brought by one of the starter personnell. The Pangandaman' s did not ask permission to drive through because they did not want to disturb the Dela Paz's who were in the middle of the fairway. Upon reaching the green of the 3rd hole, Mr. Dela Paz asked the caddie why the people in the cart just went through. Mayor Pangandaman who was already positioned at the 4th hole, personally informed Mr. Dela Paz that they were part of 2 foursomes. At this point, Mr. Dela Paz said "ah okay, courtesy lang naman". This was verified by the caddies. Mr. Pangandaman said that he did not disturb them anymore because the player was about to hit. At this point, Mayor Pangandaman thought everything was okay so he proceeded to the 4th hole (Par 3) where his other flightmates were. In the records it says that Mr. Pangandaman was not yet even done pitching into the green when a ball landed near his 8-year old child so they immediately made sure the child was secured in the cart. ( For those unaware of the common practice at Valley Golf, on every par 3, the group behind you is signaled to hit into the green once everyone from your group is already on the green) Until you have been cleared to hit by the group ahead, you should not hit into the green. It is common sense and basic precautionary procedure. In this particular case, we have no corroborative testimony. One set of caddies say they were given clearance, while the other say that no clearance was given as of yet when the ball/s had landed. The Pangandaman' s claim that the same situation happened in the 5th hole (Par5). Even the caddied confirmed this. At this time, Bambee Dela Paz had called the Marshall to tell him that the flight behind them was complaining about why their pace was slow and that the cause of the delay was the 5-some in front of them. Shortly thereafter, a marshall on his motorcycle appeared and approached the Pangandaman' s and asked if they were playing as a fivesome to which the Mayor said no. "We are 2 foursomes". Nonetheless, the Pangandaman' s had already agreed among themselves that they would rather the Dela Paz's play through. The Mayor was even quoted saying to his Father. " magagaling yung mga bata at malakas pumalo, baka mabagalan sa atin" They informed the marshall that they would just let the Dela Paz group play through and the marshall informed the Mr. Dela Paz of this. ( Just as an aside, the investigative group actually asked the group behind Dela paz if indeed they had complained about the slow down and the group said that the y said no such thing to the Dela paz flight. They were not even in contact at anytime before they arrived at the tee house to see the fight and eventually help stop it) When the Delapaz group reached the green of hole 5, the caddies of the 2 kids gave them their drivers so that they would waste no time playing through. The Mayor, who at that time was sitting along with their companions, stood up to personally tell Mr. Dela Paz to play through. Caddies, and the tee house server claim that the Mayor told Dela Paz na "Mauna na ho kayo" and walked to approach Dela Paz, The response of Dela Paz was "Huwag mo akong pagtaasan ng boses" Dela Paz began to question the Mayor why they were playing as a fivesome. The Mayor said that this was not the case but Dela Paz was insisting and even said (again corroborated by the caddies) "Linoloko mo ba ako?" "Member ka ba dito, Kilala mo ba ako?" (as you can see, this question did not come from Pangandaman. In fact, in the recorded testimony, this is exactly what Pangandaman claimed delapaz had said to him and yet in Delapaz' recorded statement, he never said that the mayor asked him " kilala mo ba ako" Completely different from when the media was already involved. When Delapaz was posing the above question, the mayor was heard to say. "Sandali lang, hindi naman tayo nagaaway dito. Akala ko ba naayos na natin yung issue kanina sa hole 3? At about this point Delapaz closed his umbrella and then poked the mayor on his stomach using the pointed end ( some caddies say Dela Paz swung the umbrella and some say that he poked the Mayor) The investigative board asked Dela Paz what he did, he said that he poked the Mayor in self defense. When asked who was attacking him, Dela Paz said that he was being surrounded by 4 men. The caddies and other witnesses on hand said that when the umbrella incident happened, it was only Dela Paz and the mayor that were talking. The other parties were in the tee house about 15-20 yards away. The Mayor says he was poked and so he backed off and just as he was about to be poked again, his brother, Hussein ran and attacked Delapaz and hit Delapaz knocking him to the ground.( At this point the commotion took place. One of the things observed is 14-year old Bino hit the Mayor with his driver. Apparently, the mayor parried with his forearm and hand so this is where he sustaned the injury. In the process also, Hussein was being pulled off the older dela paz by his 2 children but again Bino was seen to hit Hussein in the face and head while Bambee had scratched the other side of Husseins face. At this time also, witnesses say, that 3 or 4 other members of the flight excluding the Secretary, the 8-year old boy, and the girlfriend of Hussein were involved in attacking or subduing the older dela paz but this lasted very shortly and when the combatants had been separated the existing people in the tee house as well as the new flight that was playing behind the dela paz's. At this point the Secretary told the delapaz group to leave so as to avoid any more trouble. As the elder delapaz was leaving he was heard calling someone on his cellphone saying " may away kami, pumunta kayo dito" No one knew who delapaz was speaking to as he walked away towards the main clubhouse. A few minutes later, the secretary and his group decided to end the day instead of continuing to play. When they got to the clubhouse, Hussein wanted to wash up because he was bleeding in the neck area. As he got near the reception area, he saw delapaz and was heard to have said "O, nandito pa pala kayo" to which Dela Paz said "Hindi pa tapos ito gaganti pa kami". At this point, Bino got in between his Dad and Hussein while saying " Tatandaan ka namin" (None of the witnesses in the clubhouse, and there were many, ever saw Bino kneel and say that he was only 14 years old at maawa na sila) On the contrary, Bino was acting like anything but a helpless child. He sounded tough, angry, and antagonistic enough that the fight broke out again. At this point, the bodyguards of the Mayor ran into the clubhouse via the poolside entrance. When questioned about this, the mayor said that one was his driver and the other was his "Yayo". As far as the board was concerned, the "Yayo" was also a bodyguard. Said Yayo came into the clubhouse with a clutchbag containing a gun and brought out the gun without pointing it at anyone. The Mayor immediately instructed him that there was no need for guns and the gun was put back. During the investigation, the Mayor said that the handgun was his and that his "yayo" was likely going to give it to him but he declined. Upon instructing his "yayo", the man just stayed in one corner. At this time the wife of Dela Paz and his other son arrived. The son was wielding a baseball bat and the wife had a knife which she pulled out of a scabbard. These two were subdued by security but they were verbally threatening the Pangandaman' s during this time. There was also a reported incident where the driver of the mayor ran out and came back with a suitcase containing a supposed armalite as claimed by valley security. The driver never pulled it out or pointed it at anyone but it was readily accesible[/i]
Another, an email from ValleyLumberjacks@yahoogroups.com (apparently a group of Valley Golf members)
Guys, I just came from valley and the incident continues to be the hottopic. Let me just give the information i got today from the caddies(who were present during the incident in the tee-house), 2 member(one of them was present in the clubhouse incident) and feedback fromthe boys in the bag drop area. I guess you can say this is hear-say but from direct sources. But wewere so outraged by seeing a 14 year old boy beaten up that we askedfor blood. Here are thier version (Not the Pamandanans but thewitnesses. 1. Who ever you ask, from the 2 members to the caddies to the bagdrop boys, Mr. de la Paz is not liked in valley, they call him arrogant and "maangas"(what ever that means). On the other hand, the Secretary and the Mayor (the play valleyon holidays) were discribed as "Mabait", "Magalang" and "walang ere". 2. On that day my regular caddie was the caddie of the Secretay andhis brother was the caddie of the mayor. 3. Apparently the younger Pamandanan tried to catch-up with hisbrothers and father who were playing infront of the Mr. de la Paz and family. On holenumber 3 (accompanied by a marcial, the younger pamandanan asked premission to go ahead tojoin the flight in front and Mr. de la Paz (according to them) agreed. 4. on hole number 5, the son (was it Bino) hit his drive while theflight even if the flight in front have not yet taken their second shots. I understand healmost hit the Mayor. According to the Caddies, the Mayor just let that one pass. 5. When Mr. de la Paz reached the Tee-house between hole No. 5 and 6,he found the pamandanans eating. This apparently irked Mr. de la Paz and wasangry that they were delaying the game. According to the caddies (there were at least7 of them who witnessed the incident) the Secretary told them to just go aheadand play through. But Mr. de la paz (apparently) continued to verbally abuse the mayor. 6. They did not know what word were exchanged but the saw Mr. de laPaz swing his umbrella at the mayor. This was seen by his sibblings and thefight occured. The son of Mr. dela paz (I guess a natural reaction of a son) came tohelp his father. Unfortunately he to was hit. (amazing it may seem, but this was witnessed by at least 7 caddies). 7. According to the Caddies, the incident stopped when the secretarycame back from the 6th tee to stop his childern. Mr. de la paz and family left forthe club house and everybody thought the incident was over. 8. Apparently it wes not. Mr. de la paz (according to the member whowas there) actually called for back up (hence the other son who alledgedly had abaseball bat. The second brawl thus started in the Club House. 9. There were no body guards on the golf course (they were outsidethe Valley golf club entance. they came in only when the second brawl started in theclub house. 10. I understand the caddies etc. will be called by the board todescribe what they actually saw. As I said these are information coming from people who actually know both parties and who witnessed the incidents. I'm sharing it with youguys because of the outrage we felt when we read the blog and the newspaper accounts. If you believe this information coming frompeople who saw the incidents (they have not reason to lie), we nowshould realize how media (trial by publicity) can influence (evencreate outrage) that way we feel and think. We should learn from this."
Yes, we should. We all should. Have we, therefore, been taken for a ride?
