Mandaluyong mayor on ‘threat’: A total lie; I spoke against oppression

“Soft but threatening” was how Justice Secretary Leila de Lima Friday described the manner in which Mandaluyong City Mayor Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. allegedly threatened two public prosecutors during a court hearing on his father’s electoral sabotage case in Pasay City the other day.

But the younger Abalos strongly denied the allegation, saying what he uttered was more of a cry against the “oppression” being suffered by his family.

The alleged confrontation between the mayor and prosecutors Orlando Mariano and Mark Roland Estepa took place while the court was conducting bail hearings for Abalos Sr., former chair of the Commission on Elections.

“Last night I read the report of the panel and there was something very alarming there. There was a confrontation, it was kind of volatile. You know, the Abalos camp was becoming angry. Mayor Abalos verbally told our prosecutors, in a soft but threatening voice, ‘P.I. n’yo, papatayin ko kayo [I’ll kill you],’” De Lima told reporters.

De Lima said she instructed the prosecutors to report the incident to the police and execute an affidavit, adding: “They were hesitant to put it in their report. But when Prosecutor General Claro Arellano learned about it, he said the incident should be relayed to me and they should wait for my advice.”

“You know, our people are just doing their jobs and this is what happens to them,” she said. “Why should they be treated that way? No one should, no one can ever threaten or intimidate our prosecutors. We are not going to take this sitting down. We will really file charges.”

Mayor Abalos called the allegation a “total lie,” saying it was “physically impossible” for him to utter such a threat against Mariano and Estepa during Thursday’s hearing.

“They were seated away from me” by about five yards, Abalos said, gesturing.

He said what he recalled saying during the proceedings was “sobrang pang-aapi na ’to, sobrang garapal [this oppression has gotten too much, too brazen].”

“How could I threaten them when there were reporters around me? And in my whole life, I never threatened to kill anyone,” he said.

He said De Lima and the prosecutors were apparently just making up stories to push his family around. “Bagsak na ang pamilya ko [My family is already down and out],” the mayor said.

The mayor’s 77-year-old father is currently detained at the Southern Police District headquarters in Taguig City on charges that he and then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gave orders to rig the 2007 senatorial elections.