QC dad hails Gullas apology

"We have been vindicated," was the initial reaction of Quezon City Councilor Anthony Castelo, as he praised House Majority Leader Eduardo Gullas for expressing regrets for the controversy generated by Gullas' statement tagging Quezon City, "Carnap Capital of the Philippines".

"Such humility before the common weal is a gesture high in spirit and is a quality worthy of emulation," said Castelo of Gullas' letter of appeasement to the City Council through Mayor Ismael A. Mathay, Jr. "This is very unfortunate. If our statement annoyed or rubbed the City Council members the wrong way, then we feel very sorry about it. We did not mean to offend anyone," said Gullas in an interview. He further stated that, "it was never our intention to put Quezon City down."

The controversy came after Gullas revealed that Quezon City had the highest number of car theft cases in the country, triggering the ire of the Quezon City alderman who demanded a public apology for his "diatribe which caused a slur on the wholesome image of the city and tarnished the good image of our good Mayor's administration." Citing a Philippine National Police-Traffic Management Group Report (PNP-TMG), Gullas said that 448 vehicles were stolen in Quezon City or 24 percent of the total stolen vehicles, followed by Makati with 214 units (11 percent) and Manila, 164 (nine percent).

But Castelo quickly reacted to Gullas' report citing flaws in the latter's interpretation of statistics. "Mr. Gullas should have factored -- in the Metro Manila Urban Transportation Integration Study (MMUTIS) to arrive at a better judgment of the issue in the wake of Congress's move to strengthen the anti-car theft law," stressed Castelo.

It was gathered from that data that Metro Manila has a vehicle density of 16 million vehicles. Since Quezon City's territory constitutes one fourth of the entire territory of the region, it came as no surprise that it absorbed one-fourth of the total car theft cases recorded.