Pick on someone your own size, Congressman Mohammed Hussein Pangandaman

What observers are also curious about is how a congressman from a poor province was able to procure such an expensive ride... In a country like the Philippines where democracy is often revealed to be nothing more than an empty slogan, security guard Ricardo Bonayog does not stand a chance against someone like Pangandaman.

Pick on someone your own size,

Congressman Mohammed Hussein Pangandaman

BY: Dan Mariano

AS feared by many observers, the security guard who reported that he was mauled by Lanao del Sur Rep. Mohammed Hussein Pangandaman has decided not to press charges against the congressman.

In a country like the Philippines where democracy is often revealed to be nothing more than an empty slogan, security guard Ricardo Bonayog does not stand a chance against someone like Pangandaman.

Although the Commission on Human Rights has declared that it was willing to take the case, CHR officials finally admitted they could do nothing because Bonayog’s apparent desistance would leave a case against the Maranao congressman without a complainant.

Still, it took Bonayog about a week or so to change his mind.

Soon after his encounter with Pangandaman, Bonayog had gone to Station 9 of the Quezon City Police District and reported that the congressman had beat him up at around 4:30 p.m. on August 31 at the UP-Ayala Technohub complex.

Bonayog reported that while he was on duty at the parking lot, a silver-colored sports car with protocol plate number “8” reserved for congressmen approached, followed by a red Toyota Innova with plate number PCI-150 allegedly bearing the politician’s bodyguards.

Bonayog said that when he tried to conduct a routine security inspection on the Porsche, the congressman blew his top, stepped out of the car and assaulted the security guard, who was later brought to the Quirino Memorial Medical Center for treatment of head injuries.

The congressman would later say that Bonayog tried to draw his weapon, and that therefore Pangandaman merely defended himself.

Yeah, right.

Days after the incident, Bonayog looked like he was still determined to file a complaint against the congressman. According to media reports, he even went to the Batasang Pambansa—accompanied by police—and viewed the directory of the House of Representatives. He pointed to the picture of Pangandaman as the Porsche-owner who beat him up.

Explaining his decision not to press charges, Bonayog was quoted saying the other day that he feared for his and his family’s safety. Certainly, he has understandable reasons to be fearful. In a criminal case, he would be up against someone who is not only influential and rich, but also not shy about resorting to violence when he does not get his way.

In 2009, many people still remember, Pangandaman, his brother Nasser Jr. and their bodyguards figured in a brawl over links etiquette at the Valley Golf and Country Club in Antipolo City. There, too, the Pangandamans had invoked “self-defense” after members of the De la Paz family with whom they had an altercation allegedly tried to attack them with, of all things, an umbrella.

An umbrella?

As a result of that incident, the club membership of the Pangandaman’s father, then-Agarian Reform Secretary Nasser Sr. was suspended for two years, while the brawling brothers themselves were banned from the club’s premises.

Despite that embarrassing incident in 2009, Hussein still managed to get himself elected as representative of the first district of Lanao del Sur last year, while his brother Nasser Jr. was reelected mayor of Masiu.

If the accusations made against Pangandaman by, first, the De la Paz family over the Antipolo scuffle and, now, by Bonayog, are accurate, it does seem as though the congressman likes to pick on people much weaker than he—along with his bodyguards, of course.

The word “bully” quickly comes to mind.

Apart from the congressman’s apparently oppressive manner, the Technohub incident has also drawn attention to his car, described as “Porsche Carrera,” more specifically the profligacy of a representative of one of the country’s poorest provinces.

PGA Cars is the official Porsche dealer in the Philippines, and inquiries about the price of their vehicles are you usually met with a dismissive, “if you have to ask you can’t afford it.” Indeed, these German-engineered autos are regarded as among the most expensive, not only in this country, but also in the entire world.

An online review of “pre-owned” Porsches shows that, indeed, these cars are costly. Prices range from P2.45 million for a 1999 model Porsche 996 3.4-liter, six-cylinder Carrera to P6.1 million for a 2008 model that has already logged 18,000 kilometers. And these are second-hand cars!

As of this writing, it is not clear if the Porsche that Pangandaman had refused to be inspected by Bonayog at the Technohub parking lot is brand-new or pre-owned. What observers are also curious about is how a congressman from a poor province was able to procure such an expensive ride.

A recent post on the website of the National Statistical Coordination Board listed Lanao del Sur among the provinces in the “bottom cluster” in terms of poverty incidence, measured at almost 40 percent of all households in the case of Pangandaman’s constituency.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS) lists Lanao del Sur as one of the “Bottom 10” provinces when it comes to real per capita income. In 2006, for instance, the real per capita income in Pangandaman’s province was measured at P14,281 in terms of NCR 1997 pesos.

PIDS also reported that Lanao del Sur belongs to the “Bottom 10” provinces in basic enrolment rate (85 percent), in life expectancy (58.7 years) and human development index (0.445).

And what have the political leaders of Lanao del Sur—like Pangandaman—been doing while their constituents wallow in poverty?

Tooling around Metro Manila in expensive cars—and beating up anyone who rubs them the wrong way.