Valley Golf Club kicks out brawlers

Officials of the Valley Golf and Country Club (VGCC) in Antipolo City have expelled businessman Delfin de la Paz and imposed a two year suspension on Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman Sr. over a brawl at the golf course last Dec. 26.

VGCC president Bonifacio Sumbilla also banned for life De la Paz’s children Bino Lorenzo and Maria Dhel, and Pangandaman’s sons Mayor Nasser Pangandaman Jr. of Masiu, Lanao del Sur and Muhammed Hussein from playing on the golf course.

Only the elder De la Paz and Pangandaman are members of Valley Golf.

Pangandaman’s counsel lawyer Ted Pastrana and De la Paz’s lawyer Raymond Fortun admitted receiving copies of the VGCC decision dated Jan. 10 and signed by Sumbilla and the eight board directors.

Pastrana said the first seven pages of the decision contain the narration of facts of the mauling incident while the last three pages cover the board’s decision.

The golf management ruled that although Secretary Pangandaman was not directly involved in the mauling incident, he was still liable hence his two-year suspension.

Pastrana pointed out that the VGCC board decision sustained the Pangandaman’s camp assertion that it was the elder De la Paz who instigated the brawl.

“The VGCC boards’ findings simply point to the fact that my clients merely defended themselves against the aggression of the De la Pazes,” Pastrana said.

He said the Pangandaman’s camp is satisfied with the VGCC board ruling that his clients “acted in self-defense.”

However, Pastrana did not rule out seeking a reconsideration of the VGCC board ruling on Secretary Pangandaman’s punishment.

Fortun said he is also set to file a motion for reconsideration on the expulsion of his client from the Valley Golf because the punishment is “too harsh.”

He said if the VGCC board pointed to his client as the instigator of the incident, “it does not justify the Pangandamans mauling of them.”

“The decision shows that indeed my clients were mauled,” Fortun said.

He said that VGCC board also intended to issue a no bodyguard policy at the golf course premises, thereby disproving the Pangandamans’ contention that they had no bodyguards at the time of the brawl.

De la Paz and his son Bino filed last Jan. 5 two counts of slight physical injuries and three counts of child abuse charges against Nasser Jr. and his brother Muhammed Hussein before the Antipolo City prosecutor’s office.

The Pangandaman brothers appeared at the same prosecutor’s office some two hours later to file physical injuries charges against the De la Pazes.

The Pangandaman’s also filed an additional grave coercion and light threats against Delfin, Bino, Bambee, and brother Bruce who arrived in the golf course armed with a baseball bat and Mrs. Maridel de la Paz who was armed with a bladed weapon.

Fortun said they deferred filing additional cases against the Pangandamans to give way to the ongoing negotiations for an amicable settlement of the case.

But while the De la Paz camp held their punches, Nasser Jr. filed libel charges against Bambee at the prosecutor’s office in Lanao del Sur last Thursday.

Fortun insisted yesterday that three prominent personalities are brokering an out-of-court agreement between the two camps.

“We deferred the filing of an administrative charges against Secretary Pangandaman and his mayor son so as not to complicate matters in the ongoing negotiations,” he said.

Fortun admitted though that there’s no progress yet in the negotiations for a truce between his client and the Pangandamans.

Pastrana claimed that there is no effort on the camp of De la Paz to negotiate an out-of-court settlement with the Pangandamans.

“For the negotiation for an amicable settlement to start, the camp of De la Paz should stop first issuing inflammatory statements against my clients,” said Pastrana.

Pangandamans feel vindicated

Secretary Pangandaman Sr. said he felt “vindicated and somehow relieved” with the findings of the VGCC officials.

Pangandaman said he intends to file an appeal before the board of Valley Golf to ask for reconsideration of the two-year suspension from the golf club.  

“I received the decision late (Saturday) night. And I feel vindicated and somehow relieved that it has been revealed through the decision, what I have been saying all along, that it was De la Paz who started the incident,” Pangandaman told The STAR.

Pangandaman believed that the Valley Golf’s decision would boost their case against the De la Pazes, which was filed before the courts.

“I’m very consistent. It was the De la Pazes who started it all and my kids just defended themselves. They attacked my sons,” the DAR chief noted.  “And it was also clear that on my part, I pacified them when the fight was happening.”