Sandra Cam denies bragging about pending gov’t post in Naia outburst
Sandra Cam. Photo by Noy Morcoso/INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
“It’s not that I made yabang (boasted) because I’m not mayabang (arrogant) anyway.”
This was what former “jueteng” whistleblower Sandra Cam had to say about her reported outburst with an airport worker and her manager last month after not being accorded VIP treatment.
READ: Sandra Cam who? Airport workers bear brunt of VIP wannabe’s ire
Cam on Monday denied boasting about an impending Cabinet appointment to a female employee of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport who asked her for a government ID for being at the VIP lounge of the airport’s terminals.
“It’s not true that I shouted at her. It’s not true that I was bragging that I will be the Cabinet secretary of this government in three months. That’s not true. What I said exactly is, you keep on asking me to present a government ID, you wait until three months, I will be joining the government and I’m sure I can have the ID that you need,” Cam said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel’s Early Edition.
“When she [kept] on harping me to present a government ID, which I don’t have, I said, ‘hija I’m not a govt official.’ The only reason the airport police brought me in there was because I don’t have a security and somebody might hurt me outside… I’m not a mayabang (an arrogant) person. I’m very simple but I do follow rules, only I was shocked with the way they were asking me for a government ID when I was on the phone,” she added.
Article continues after this advertisementCiting an incident report from the Manila International Airport Authority, the Inquirer first reported that last Feb. 16, a Masbate-bound Cam gave the airport employee a tongue-lashing heavily laced with cusses, dropping the name of Duterte’s aide Christopher “Bong” Go and an anticipated government appointment.
Article continues after this advertisementBut the losing senatorial bet claimed that the part of the report where she supposedly “boasted” of an impending Cabinet post was just “added in,” reiterating that she was not an arrogant person.
“It happened in February. My question is, why only now they have to bring up that matter? This is a big big lie. It’s not that I made yabang (boasted) because I’m not mayabang (arrogant) anyway. I’m a very simple person whose heart is really for the poor, the needy, and those who are being oppressed. And people who know me, even my own family, they don’t know even know what position I would be getting in this government. I’m working hard to stop corruption without asking anything in return,” she said.
“They should have asked my side because the reason I got irritated is because the way the young lady approached me, I was on the phone, and she was asking me for a government ID, which I don’t have because I’m not working with the government. And when I told her that I don’t have a government ID, I showed her my ATM card which shows my name. And I told her you can Google my name so you would [know] me,” Cam added.
Cam said she was surprised that she was asked to pay P1,120—part of the terms of use of the VIP lounge that can be waived as courtesy for government officials—when “they have nothing to offer but water and coffee.”
She also denied threatening to have the Naia employee removed from her job.
“I told her, you are working in an airport with a public service. You should know how to deal with people. But the way she approached me was very really rude. I didn’t know that there was such ruling in the terminal because ten years ago there was none,” Cam said. “I didn’t threaten them. What I said was you were not supposed to be in this job because you do not know how to handle people. You are so young but you are so rude.”
On Saturday, President Rodrigo Duterte said he was willing to offer Cam a government post for helping him in his campaign, adding that he was leaving it to the public to judge her following the airport incident. But Duterte said there was no vacancy in the Cabinet.
READ: Duterte defends Cam after airport scene
“If she would ask for work, I’d give her work. It’s not because she was shouting there. That’s her business,” the President said. RAM/rga
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