Superintendent Alfred Sotto Corpus, Taguig police chief, said the 24-year-old Manotoc who showed up at the police station around 11:30 a.m., said he was sorry for what has happened to Carlo Pardo de Tavera Brown.
However, Corpus said the son of Ilocos Norte Rep. Imee Marcos has denied he and his group were the ones who first attacked the 22-year-old Brown in front of the Embassy Cuisine Bar at about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday.
"He (Manotoc) claimed he was at the Embassy Bar because he was one of the promoters of the said establishment. Incidentally, it was his birthday that night and that it was Brown who reportedly approached him and asked if he was Borgy," Corpus said. Manotoc and Brown afterwards went their own ways and it was outside the bar that they again met.
"Manotoc alleged that it was Brown who started mocking him. The two engaged in an altercation and that is when the fight started," Corpus said, adding that according to Manotoc, it was Brown who first took hold of an aluminum chair which police later recovered in the area where the beating incident occurred.
Corpus added that Manotoc also said that contrary to earlier reports, he was not aware of Brown talking to his girlfriend, fellow model Ornussa Cadness.
Brown who sustained cuts in the head as a result of the incident, was brought by a friend to the Makati Medical Center for treatment.
Brown is the son of Mara Pardo de Tavera, sister of former social welfare secretary Mita Pardo de Tavera. Mara and her husband, Raymond Brown, established the Organic Market at the Greenbelt Park, Makati City in 1993 to promote the consumption of organically grown vegetables.
Manotoc is Marcos’ son by sportsman Tommy Manotoc.
Corpus said the victim’s family has expressed their intention to file appropriate charges against Manotoc but not one representative of the Brown family has turned up at the police station until yesterday afternoon.
Only last Jan. 31, Manotoc figured in a near-fistfight with former basketball star Paul Alvarez, who had mistaken Cadness for a waitress. The incident took place at the same bar. Alvarez subsequently apologized to Manotoc and Cadness.
In a telephone interview with The STAR, the outgoing congresswoman expressed her extreme displeasure over her eldest son’s latest public fracas.
"Pasaway talaga!" she fumed, referring to the nth time that her son figured in "child-like" quarrel in his workplace at The Embassy disco.
Rep. Imee Marcos said she flew back immediately from Bangkok last Tuesday night after learning about the incident from mediamen who sought her comment about it. She spent the Holy Week in Thailand where she originally asked Borgy to come along to spend his 24th birthday there.
"Had he (Borgy) come with us, this should not have happened," she said.
The Ilocos Norte solon, who is in her third and last term in Congress, pointed out that she precisely decided to retire from politics to quietly "disappear" from the limelight.
"Now, here comes my son with this problem and some people are now into the picture to blow this (incident) out of proportion," she rued.
The solon disclosed that she had a "mother-to-mother" talk with the mauling victim’s mother. She, however, declined to elaborate except saying: "Because as I heard from the media that they (victim’s family) might file serious physical injury charges."
But while there is no formal complaint yet filed against Borgy, she already sent her son to the Taguig police.
"That’s why he (Borgy) was asked there by the police why he went there when there was no case yet filed against him. That’s because I told him to go there," Rep. Marcos said.
Contrary to earlier media reports, Marcos said Borgy has no bodyguards but her son was with his friends celebrating with him his birthday. "He (Borgy) does not even have a driver," she said.
Marcos reiterated she would not condone any misbehavior of Borgy or any of her other children if they misbehaved.
"Pupukpukin ko na sa ulo, kahit eight stitches man lang!" she said in mock dismay on Borgy.
Marcos earlier threatened to whip by belt Borgy the last time he had an altercation also at The Embassy last year with rapper J.R.