Re the So-called Dasma incident in the Inquirer today: The Inquirer relied too heavily on a source who was conveniently not identified. Obviously the source gave false and malicious information.

Contrary to the report, no arrests were made, and the mayor did not order any arrest. The guards volunteered to go with the police. The video bears this out. This was also clarified by both the owner of the security agency Mr. Ram Antonio and the Makati chief of police in their interviews but Inquirer opted to bury their statements.

According to Col.Lukban, the guards left the police precinct after about an hour, not four hours as claimed by Inquirer. Again,
this was left out in the report.

Nowhere in the 20 min video did you see the convoy forcing its way through the gate. In fact, the convoy waited for police to arrive.

The mayor never uttered the words "Kilala mo ba ako" as claimed by the unnamed source. This is false and downright malicious. On the contrary, the mayor went down his vehicle and said " Si mayor binay ako. Baka pwedeng makiraan lang." He said this after the guard refused to believe a staff who said the mayor was inside the vehicle. The Inquirer could have easily verified this with Mr. Antonio and the guard.

It was the mayor who called the police to diffuse tension. Armed security guards were already surrounding the convoy.

We consider the matter closed. Mr. Antonio has apologized for lapses in providing security assistance to the mayor, a courtesy extended to all visiting VIPs.


Joey Salgado
Spokeperson
City of Makati

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