By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
A week had passed since motorist Kurt Matthew Teves physically assaulted and threatened a subdivision guard in BF Homes, Parañaque City. There’s no denying the violent behavior of this man as video clips of his verbal abuse and brutal attack on a plain worker fulfilling his gatekeeping duties have gone viral on social media since it happened last March 16.
Security Guard Jomar Pajares was merely doing his job, halting vehicles at the Concha Cruz Gate that did not bear the required homeowners’ sticker and advising their drivers to use another access gate where IDs are to be left with the guard. That is a universally accepted rule in gated communities.
From demanding that he be let through because “may bahay kami sa loob” (we have a house inside), Mr. Teves went ballistic, challenging SG Pajares either to a fistfight or a gun duel to which the gatekeeper’s only response was the subdivision’s rule of thumb.
Later that night, Mr. Teves was captured in a cellphone video footage punching SG Pajares, making him kneel before him and kicking him in the body. It was hard to watch as it was easy for Mr. Teves to explode with such bravado since he had picked on a uniformed agent of authority while he had at least two other male companions watching his back.
Lawyer Delfin Supapo, legal committee chairman of the BF Federation of Homeowners’ Association, Inc. (BFFAI), told GMA News that charges would be filed against Mr. Teves whom he identified as a son of Deputy House Speaker Arnolfo “Arnie” Teves Jr. of the 3rd District of Negros Oriental.
Yes, this is the same Cong. Teves who challenged former House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Camarines Sur 2nd District Rep. LRay Villafuerte to a fistfight over differences in the budget proposal last year. I’m not sure if he is also the “Congressman Teves” name-dropped by businessman Charlie “Atong” Ang as an alleged big-time gambling operator before a Senate probe on the 31 missing sabungeros earlier this month.
There had been dead silence on the part of Cong. Teves until interviewed about the incident a week later in the program of Ben Tulfo, during which he denied having seen the viral videos. He even refused to confirm or deny that the aggressor was his son but was bold enough to say that media was “hyping up the incident” as a “trial by publicity.”
Rep. Teves had the temerity to claim that this incident in Paranaque was “politically motivated.” How that is – Paranaque, being 838 kilometers away from his congressional district in Negros Oriental – he did not bother to explain. Instead, he accused many subdivision guards of the BFFAI as “bastos” (rude) and “without training.”
I’m certain most non-political families living in Paranaque City would want to hear from Mayor Edwin Olivarez who – as chairman of the Metro Manila Council and head of the Regional Peace and Order Council – must have a take on matters like this. And so does Paranaque 2nd District Rep. Joy Tambunting.
I also wonder what the sentiments are of Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, who from 2010 to 2013 sat in the House of Representatives for the Ang Galing Pinoy partylist, which claimed to represent the interests of security guards in the 15th Congress.
Of course, Cong. Mikey now chairs the powerful House Energy Committee. But surely, this must be troubling for someone who had previously pledged to carry the fight of humble and oppressed security guards before Congress.
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