THE MONSTERS ON THE FAIRWAY

I HAPPEN TO RECEIVE from my email an item that got caught my interest. I would have deleted it outright were it not for the phrase “sparks blog outrage”, that I began to unravel this news which got posted in Infotech Section of the Inquirer.net on December 28, 2008 which read:

“Masui, Lanao del Sur Mayor Nasser Pangandaman, Jr. and several of his golf companions and bodyguards figured in an altercation last December 26 with Delfin de la Paz and his 14-year old son Bino at the Valley Golf and Country Club in Antipolo City.

It was later found out that Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman Sr. was also present at the golf club but was said to have not been part of the alleged mauling.

The incident was later blogged by Bambee de la Paz and was reported by several news organizations. Bloggers also picked up the story and have since been calling for an investigation over the incident while a few others called for both Pangandaman's resignations”

And one thing lead to another as I clicked for more info of this overkill on a hapless 56-year old man and his teen-aged son witnessed by his daughter and his wife and that indeed have created an outpouring of emotions and rage among blog owners and readers. Going by each site of the comments posted thereat I find almost all of them demanding justice, while some were reserved for taunts and dares while a few were deleted maybe for its language which does not follow good ethics.

Then, when I read the victim's daughter's blog, I could not hold back myself but spew contempt upon this monster of a mayor from a strange-sounding town which I thought belonged to the inner vowels of Papua New Guinea. Eliciting further from other noteworthy blogs I could comprehend already the structure of his governance and the condition of his constituents. If he could abuse anyone not in his turf then how much more so for anyone crossing his path in his kingdom?

I remembered that the elder Nasser Pangandaman Sr. was also with his son and I thought he held a voice to temper even the most feral creature but, mind you, he never lifted a finger to stop the onslaught as if he were suffering from a bad case of sore throat or tonsil. I think it's unhealthy for him to accompany Nasser Jr. all the time on a leisure trip or a sporting event for his faculty of speech will surely be affected. And speaking of sporting event, the young Nasser just upgraded golf into an extreme sport that will rival UFCC and the WWF. What will Tiger Woods say about that?

For socking a 14-year old, Nasser Jr. is condemned to be sued with a non-bailable crime and he will have his day in court and he will have an eternity in a hell-hole. So are his golfing buddies and his security guards and his father and party. They have conspired together willfully and knowingly with the use of brute force and intimidation with the use of firearms and superiority in numbers in achieving their end. Hey, it's like the PROC invading stone-age Tibet or the mighty US engaging Aruba in a war. Sounds like an overkill indeed.

I have nothing against the Pangandamans but I simply abhor the extreme use of brute force against a very weak opponent just like they did to the de la Paz father and son. Just because you are both government officials and move along with a phalanx of guards that means to say that you have a right to follow your own whims disregarding civility, rules and ethics? Power and pride it seemed blinded you to not even notice the image you painted of yourselves in the mirror which the whole world is already aware of: MONSTERS ON THE FAIRWAY!

Oh, before I end this article, the Valley Golf and Country Club is a place that's not healthy for “small” people nor it is healthy to the ground water. They don't care to give protection to paying club members how much more to the environment? People will take notice of the blogs going around about how you treat the Pangandaman-de la Paz affair with kid gloves and I look forward to the day that you will close shop and the aquifer will be revived again. That will be a great tale worth telling to the next generation.

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