Caterer stands by employee over pork incident

The food catering firm, whose employee got manhandled for accidentally serving pork to a Muslim congresswoman, has decided to stop doing business with the House of Representatives.

Ma. Teresa Moreno, assistant to the president of the Developers Group of Companies Inc. which operates Shangri-La Finest Chinese Cuisine, informed House secretary general Roberto Nazareno yesterday of the firm’s decision.

"Regardless of the provocation, or alleged provocation, however, it is our position that no such physical violence against our personnel can be justified," Moreno said.

Shangri-La dining manager Virginia Altamerano, 36, was slapped and shoved by Lanao del Sur Rep. Faysah Dumarpa when the latter discovered that she had unintentionally eaten pork which was an ingredient of the dish served to her by Altamerano. Altamerano reported the incident to the Batasan Hills police. There were reports that Dumarpa even tried to stab Altamerano with a table knife but was stopped by her colleagues. This was denied by Dumarpa.

"Considering, moreover, that the threats to the physical well-being of our personnel continue to remain, and are, in fact, imminent, we thought it prudent to immediately suspend all services, if only to protect our personnel from further harm," Moreno told Nazareno.

Dumarpa had demanded the dismissal of the catering crew involved in the incident which sparked calls for a Halal food labeling for the 12 Muslim lawmakers. — With AP