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By Francis Earl A. Cueto, Correspondent
Charges of slight physical injuries and child abuse were filed
Monday by two alleged mauling victims of two sons of Agrarian Reform
Secretary Nasser Pangandaman Sr. over brawls last year at a golf
club south of Manila.
Lawyer Raymund Fortun filed the case on behalf
of his clients, fishpond owner Delfin de la Paz and his 14-year-old
son, Bino, before the Regional Trial Court in Antipolo City. Fortun,
during an interview, said Nasser Pangandaman Jr. and his brother,
Hussein, are facing two counts of slight physical injuries and two
counts of child abuse for allegedly beating up the de la Pazes after
a quarrel on golf etiquette at Valley Golf and Country Club in
Antipolo on December 26, 2008. Pangandaman Jr. also is the mayor
of Masiu town of Lanao del Sur province in Mindanao.
Three of the bodyguards of Pangandaman Jr. also
were charged with one count of slight physical injuries. There were
reportedly five security aides of the mayor present at the time of
the separate incidents.
Fortun said the alleged mauling victims could
amend the criminal complaint to include Secretary Pangandaman Sr.,
if the result of an investigation by the National Bureau of
Investigation shows that he was involved in the attacks.
The complaint also accused the Agrarian Reform
chief of being one of the attackers, contrary to his initial
statements that he had nothing to do with the mauling. The elder
Pangandaman denied the allegation.
Fortun said, “He was there as early as the
first incident. He said: ‘Ang yabang ninyo, ang tapang ninyo,
mag-ingat kayo sa amin [You’re braggarts, you’re brave, watch
out for us].’”
“That’s why even Bambee de la Paz [daughter
of Delfin] got mad and said: ‘Nakakahiya kayo, ang tanda-tanda na
ng tatay ko, wala na siyang ilalaban sa inyo [Shame on you, my
father is very old, he can’t do anything against you].” Bambee,
identified as Bambi in earlier reports, was with her father and
brother during the alleged mauling.
The lawyer added that such statements from both
camps showed that the elder Pangandaman “was actually pretty much
involved in that fight and had actually supported, through his moral
influence, the acts made by his sons.”
Counter-charges filed
Pangandaman’s sons appeared at the Antipolo
Prosecutors’ Office, accompanied by their two lawyers, and filed
counter-charges against the elder de la Paz and his two children and
an unidentified companion a few hours after the alleged victims
filed their complaint.
They charged the de la Pazes and the companion
with physical injuries, grave and light threats, coercion and child
abuse.
The Pangandamans filed the child-abuse charges
because the de la Pazes allegedly traumatized Hussein’s
eight-year-old son Angelo, who was on the golf course and who
witnessed the fight.
They filed the grave-coercion and light-threats
charges against de la Paz’s wife, Maribel, and his other son,
Bruce.
The unidentified companion was said to have been
armed with a baseball bat in an alleged attack on the Pangandamans.
The Pangandamans attached to their complaint
affidavits of their three caddies—Renato Legaspi, Ferdie de la
Torre and Santos Esprera —who allegedly saw a member of the de la
Paz family hitting the mayor with an umbrella.
The three caddies also alleged that the umbrella
attack started the brawl.
Administrative charges
Fortun said administrative cases may be filed
against the Pangandaman father-and-son as they committed the alleged
offense during their terms as public officials.
To allow the investigation to run smoothly, he
added, they would be asking for preventive suspension of the
Agrarian Reform chief and the Masiu mayor.
At present, Fortun said, Bambee de la Paz is the
sole witness to the mauling.
“Hopefully, we can get more witnesses,” he
added.
Under Republic Act 7610, Fortun said, stiffer
penalties are now imposed on perpetrators of crimes against minors.
In the case of 14-year-old Bino de la Paz, he added, the
Pangandamans may be imprisoned for a minimum of six years and one
day.
Fortun said that Nasser Pangandaman Jr.’s
position as mayor can be considered as an aggravating circumstance,
and he may face the maximum penalty of from nine to 12 years of
imprisonment.
“Only a penalty of one to six month’s
[imprisonment] is faced by the Pangandamans [the brothers] for
slight physical injuries against Mr. Delfin de la Paz,” he added.
Claims to moral damages, Fortun said, are
separate from the criminal cases filed by the de la Pazes.
Club mulls reprimand
Meanwhile, according to him, Valley Golf and
Country Club would be making a decision within the week on possible
sanctions to be imposed on the de la Pazes and the Pangandamans.
“I really hope that Valley Golf will see
through the statements of the witnesses and will show that [de la
Pazes] were not the real aggressors since they were only defending
themselves. I would like to believe that they [club officials] will
be fair in their decision,” the lawyer said.
The Pangandamans would also be charging the de
la Pazes with libel, saying that their accusers’ false accounts of
the golf brawl in media interviews damaged their family’s
reputation.
Fortun said the prosecutors are likely to
dismiss any counter-complaint made by the Pangandamans.
Spare the Secretary
Teodoro Pastrana, one of the lawyers of the
Pangandamans, reacted to reports that the de la Paz camp was set to
ask the Ombudsman for the preventive suspension of Secretary
Pangandaman Sr. to ensure that he would not influence the
investigation of the charges.
He told reporters that there was no reason for
the Agrarian Reform secretary to resign, go on leave or be suspended
because the Pangandamans were the aggrieved party in the brawls.
Malacañang deemed it still “early” to
suspend the secretary.
“Let’s wait for initial results of the
investigation [by the Department of Justice] before we act on it,”
deputy spokesman Lorelei Fajardo said also on Monday.
Pastrana insisted that his clients did not start
the incidents.
The first fight happened at hole no. 5, where
the elder de la Paz allegedly refused to accept an apology from
Pangandaman Jr. for the mayor having breached golf rules.
The second brawl happened at the clubhouse,
where the elder de la Paz, Bino and Bambee had gone to complain
about the alleged mauling by the Pangandamans.
-- James Konstantin Galvez And Angelo S. Samonte
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