Guard started it, says solon

The House of Representatives will look into the reported punching by Lanao del Sur Rep. Mohammed Hussein Pangandaman of a security guard at the UP-Ayala Technohub in Quezon City.

“The House will have to look into the action of its member if there is a complaint,” said Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II.

Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said that if true, the incident was “disturbing.”

Pangandaman himself denied before reporters on Monday a news item that said he punched a security guard twice in the head for refusing to exempt his Porsche Carrera with a number 8 license plate from the usual security check in the parking lot of the commercial strip along Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City.

Pangandaman’s security escorts then reportedly disarmed the security guard, who has remained unidentified, while the lawmaker proceeded to his meeting in the area.

“I have no written statement because I want to speak from the heart and tell the truth. I felt bad about this news. I don’t know how they could fabricate this kind of story and malign my name,” Pangandaman said.

He said he was at the Technohub with three members of his staff and a police detail.

He admitted driving his Porsche but said the security guard was the first one to act rudely. “He said ‘P*tsa, ocho (s*it, an 8)’ when the attendant asked him for my car’s license number.”

He said that he talked to the guard in “a gentle and civilized” manner.

Pangandaman said he was surprised the security guard followed him to the parking slot where they again argued about his license plate which he said was a “protocol” plate.

Then the discussion got heated, he said. He said it was the security guard who attempted to draw his gun and that he quickly held onto the guard’s gun before he could take it out of its holster, while he used his other hand to hit the guard in the head with some papers he was holding.

He said that his police detail then intervened and disarmed the guard.

Pangandaman said he was confident the truth would come out, as it did in an incident at Valley Golf Club in Antipolo City three years ago where his father, then Agrarian Reform Secretary and now Kasosyo party-list Rep. Nasser Pangandaman Sr. and his brother, Nasser Jr., were lambasted in blogs for beating up 14 year-old Bino de la Paz and his father.

“In the end we were absolved because we did not start it,” said Pangandaman.