Filipinos are unleashing online vitriol at Mayor Nasser Pangandaman Jr., son and namesake of President Arroyo's agrarian reform secretary, who reportedly mauled two persons last Dec. 26 at a golf course in Antipolo City.
(Photo of Secretary Nasser Pangandaman Sr., courtesy of USM.)
Vicissitude witnessed the incident and could not hide the shock and disgust that she saw her own father and younger brother beaten black and blue by purported “public servants”.
A Filipino Mom Blogger asks bloggers to read up and take concrete action.
The D Spot wrote:
A lot of politicians have been lording it all over in cases of graft and corruption which is already unforgivable, now here they are lording it over, as if they own the world, as if they can go over the law, as if they can just maul and poke their guns on people—the old and the young, and the very old and the very young.
Misteryosa described the incident as “appaling” and “just about the most outrageous things I’ve ever heard this year”, and laughed at news that the Mayor actually received an award for “effective leadership”.
Random Detoxification is angry at the Pangandamans and the officials of the golf club where the incident happened:
What's worse than a group of armed politicians beating up an unarmed old man? The management and staff of a golf club who were there THE WHOLE TIME and did NOTHING! Nothing but watch and then afterwards tell the beaten up family to LEAVE!!! The old man was bleeding and half-unconscious but no doctor was called, no assistance offered. Only an order to leave the premises. As if the old man and his children were the perpetrators of the crime and not the victims.
lux-lucis.net contemplates:
What fuels my outrage — apart from the violence of the incident itself — is the fact that it happened in the first place. Monsters would not be able to do this if they weren’t so confident in the protection of their power; if they were not so absolutely certain they would get away with it, eventually. There are people who say that punishment is not a good deterrent for crime: I say it is, as long as people know that the punishment will be meted out regardless of the status of the offender. This… is not the case here, where the rich get away with everything from rape to murder and former presidents somehow find a way to re-establish their positions in power despite charges of plunder. Ours is a system that fosters injustice.
And I refuse — I refuse — to simply accept this. I refuse to say, “this is the way things work, we just have to survive and hope we don’t get crushed by the unfair system.” We don’t have to tolerate injustice. Acceptance, resignation, apathy — these things will just propagate it. But we need people to actively fight against it. We have voices, we have eyes with which to see, ears with which to hear, hands with which to write messages the world can see. Time to make use of them.
Mistervader writes:
I can't believe the gall of these people. I don't care if you're powerful, or influential, and I don't care how much clout you have. When you commit something this atrocious, you deserve more than just a slap in the wrist for it.
It's high time we stopped allowing people like these from getting away with their shenanigans, acting as if they are above the law. I have nothing but vile words to spare for them, and I have no sympathy for them whatsoever.
Let's see what happens next, and whether the elder Pangandaman gets to keep his post as cabinet secretary and what would happen to the case to be filed by police on Monday.
57 comments
Shameful. Let’s be vigilant about this to prevent whitewash from powers that be.
Very sad signs of the times for our country. This brings us to the root of the problem – a country with a government that has lost its moral compass. The Pangandaman’s will not be the last. So beware now of top government officials because they are not what they are supposed to be or what they should be. They are just thugs who bought their way to the top in a government that is nothing but an exclusive club for the highest bidder. What will Arroyo do ? Nothing !
I hope the Pagdanganans will be put to jail. I’m just tired of these politicians who think they’re above the law!
this people need to put in jail and feed them with PIG meat for the rest of their lives…
It really makes me nauseous to read about the different kind of abuses these government officials and their minions are doing to ordinary citizens. Graft and corruption, immorality, plunder, oppression, warlordism, you name it, they commit it – without any qualm, not even batting an eyelash, not even caring what the public would say or think about their malfeasance, misfeasance or heinous and dastardly acts. I have seen it all and have heard it all. What are they going to do to deodorize their reeking act? Pay off the victims? With how much and what? The amount is immaterial but surely with people’s money that this father and son have”earned” through questionable means. These politicians will not even have the humility to ask for forgiveness for the wrong that they have committed. In fact, they are going to file trumped up counter charges against the hapless victims. The victims were there enjoying their time, bonding time, on the green, when the Pangandamans et al. broke the rules golf courtesy. It is but natural for the father and son to complain. Arrogant as they are, they were slighted and beat the daylight our of the father and son while their armed minions trained their guns on the two. What a shame!!
May mga NPA pa tayo na dapat takbuhan at makapag bibigay ng tunay na hustisya. Hustisya na pinagkakait sa atin ng mga nakaupo para protektahan ang mga kauri nila. Dapat ng magising ang masang Pilipino na walang tunay demokrasya ang Pilipinas kapag ang mga naghaharing uri na yan ang nagpapatakbo ng ating bansa. Baliktarin na ang tatsulok!
and the other companion of pangandaman was a bagman for jueteng hmmmmm
The Pangandaman group involved in the melee also included one Rene Maglanque. A civil engineer named Rene Maglanque was among those implicated in the “jueteng” (illegal numbers game) controversy that rocked the Arroyo administration in 2005 for being allegedly a jueteng bagman—an accusation which Maglanque denied.