Do not underestimate the relevance of blogs.
Everyone, if you have a blog, a plurk, or whatever online journal or micro-journal, please repost this incident.
It's better to get it straight as it is before it gets fabricated or altered by those under higher power. This is a matter of proving that justice still exists in our system. PLEASE REPOST.
Leaders like this do not deserve the support of their people who gave them their position. Disturbing and improper acts, especially by a politician who serves our country and implements laws, must not be tolerated.
JUSTICE.
Below this, in full quote, is Bambee's entry regarding the incident in her journal.
---
The world has gone crazy.
Bambee dela Paz
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.
http://vicissitude-decidido.blogspot.com/2
008/12/world-is-fucked-up.html
--
DAR chief’s son tagged in golf attack
By Beverly T. Natividad
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:48:00 12/27/2008
Filed Under: Crime, Government, Human Rights, Golf
MANILA, Philippines -- The son of Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman and several persons beat up a 14-year-old boy and his father at a golf course in Antipolo on Friday, the victims complained Saturday.
The alleged attackers were identified as Nasser Pangandaman Jr., mayor of Masiu, Lanao Del Sur, and his armed bodyguards. The victims, Delfin De La Paz and his family, said the Cabinet member witnessed the incident at the Valley Golf Club but did not stop his son and their bodyguards from attacking the victims.
De La Paz filed the complaint immediately after the incident on Friday with the Antipolo police, who said the charges would be filed on Monday.
De La Paz said the incident started with an altercation after the Pangandamans allegedly broke golf etiquette by playing out of turn and overtaking the De La Paz family at the South Course of the Valley Golf and Country Club.
In an interview, De La Paz, 56, said he and his two children -- daughter Bambee, 18, and son Bino, 14 -– were playing golf and were on Hole No. 3 when two golf carts bearing the Pangandamans and their friends overtook them.
Aside from the Pangandamans, the flight also included Paysal Abdulaa, Mohammed Hussein, Abdan Pacasuna, Rene Maglaque, and Arnel Astacio.
De La Paz said he complained to the marshal and an altercation ensued when the two groups caught up with each other at the tee house on Hole No. 5.
De La Paz said that at the height of the altercation, Nasser Jr. suddenly attacked him and his son, punching and kicking them and shouting: “Hindi mo ba ako nakikilala? (Don’t you know me?)”
Bambee De La Paz, who witnessed everything, said the younger Pangandaman continued to attack even when his brother was already on his knees pleading for him to stop.
Bambee, in an e-mail to friends, said they decided to stop playing and retreated to the clubhouse to seek medical attention, but their attackers followed them to the clubhouse. This time joined by their bodyguards, the Pangandaman group again attacked father and son. Bambee said two of the mayor’s bodyguards pulled out their guns.
She said that while Secretary Pangandaman did not participate in the attacks, he did not lift a finger to stop his son and his companions from beating the victims.
De La Paz’s 14 year-old boy suffered various facial, head, and back injuries due to the blows he received. The family plans to file charges of child abuse, among other cases, against the assailants.
‘‘This is a golf course. I have been a golfer all my life and I have never seen anything like this,’’ Bambee said. ‘‘And I thought golfers were decent people. You would think politicians were decent people.’’
Efforts to reach Secretary Pangandaman for comment on Saturday proved fruitless. His cell phone was off. The public information officer of the Department of Agrarian Reform promised to call the INQUIRER as soon as he got in touch with the secretary but he had not done so as of posting time Saturday.
----
Here are more articles if you're interested:
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/metro-manila/12/27/08/dars-pangandaman-complained-mauling-antipolo-city-golfers
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/141418/DAR-chiefs-son-5-bodyguards-face-charges-for-alleged-mauling-of-2-golfers