Mayor Nasser Pangandaman Jr. mauls golfers while father/Cabinet secretary just looks on

Nasser Pangandaman Sr. and Nasser Pangandaman Jr. must apologize to the persons they and their minions beat up last Dec. 26 at a golf course in Antipolo City.

The elder Pangandaman is an alter-ego of President Arroyo as the secretary of agrarian reform, while his son and namesake is mayor of Masiu City, Lanao del Sur. Common decency demands that they respect others. Laws meanwhile demand that, as public officials, they should not use their position and personnel to exploit, harass and oppress the people they are sworn to serve.

Here’s a picture of Secretary Pangandaman, courtesy of USM:

The ethical way out of this predicament for the elder Pangandaman is for him to resign. He is a disgrace to the entire government. No wonder farmers are so angry at his department: He not only does not care about genuine land reform; he also does not care for other people, period. He could’ve shown and taught his son a good example by stopping the beating on the golf course — but he just watched as his son and their cabal mauled the hapless father and son who only wanted to follow the rules.

If he does not resign, well, it is up to President Arroyo what to do with Pangandaman. She chose him to be her alter-ego as DAR secretary and she could get rid of him. If she let’s him stay in office, what kind of signal does this new incident tell about the company the President keeps? She’s friends with fraudsters (Garci) and killers (Palparan) — she will also be known as a protector of thugs who go by the name of Pangandaman.

I can already smell some reactions that we’re just getting too emotional about the incident. But I don’t care. The opposite is to just lie down and let ourselves be beaten black and blue by irresponsible leaders, those whose oaths of office state that they swear to serve us.

What to do with the younger Pangandaman? I don’t know. For starters, let his father resign or be fired — I’m sure that will put some fear in his heart and will cut his ego down to some manageable size. For now, I am happy that he’s now being tagged all over the blogosphere as someone who’s so brave in beating other people just because he’s a town mayor and the son of a President’s alter-ego at the same time.

I hope Mr. Delfin Dela Paz and Bino would fully recover soon, and that they sue the Pangandamans. To the Dela Paz family, let’s say: we are behind you, 100 percent.