De la Paz sells golf shares

Businessman Delfin de la Paz is selling his shares at the Valley Golf and Country Club following his expulsion, according to his lawyer.

Raymond Fortun said his client has no other recourse but to sell his shares to any interested buyer.

In an interview at the Pasig Regional Trial Court, Fortun said De la Paz could get back as much as P300,000.

“I advised him to sell his shares because he has no other option after Valley Golf expelled him,” said Fortun.

However, no interested buyer has approached De la Paz as of yesterday, he added.

Officials of the Valley Golf expelled De la Paz and suspended for two years Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman over a brawl at the club last Dec. 26.

The VGCC board also banned for life the De la Paz children Bino Lorenzo, 14, and Marie Dhel or Bambee, 18, and Pangandaman’s sons, Mayor Nasser Pangandaman Jr., of Masiu, Lanao del Sur and Muhammed Hussein.

Meanwhile, Fortun welcomed yesterday reports from the Pangandaman camp that they are not against Bino and Bambee’s continued playing golf at the Valley Golf.

“That (report) would be very much welcome which the De la Paz family should consider seriously with many thanks,” he said.

Fortun said the De la Paz children are very talented golfers, and that banning them from playing golf at VGCC is a “great loss to the country.”

Bino, a first year high school student at the Ateneo, is a member of the Philippine Junior golf team and had been representing the country in golf tournaments abroad.

Bambee, a first year college student, is a golf scholar at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, USA.

Fortun said although the elder De la Paz still has a share at the Forest Hills Golf Club in Cogeo, also in Antipolo City, the place is too far from his residence compared to Valley Golf.

Last Jan. 5 De la Paz and his son, Bino Lorenzo, filed two counts of slight physical injuries and three counts of child abuse charges against Mayor Pangandaman, 27, and his brother before the Antipolo Prosecutor’s Office.

The Pangandaman brothers appeared at the same prosecutor’s office some two hours later to file physical injuries charges against the De la Pazes.

They also filed an additional grave coercion and light threats against Delfin, Bino, Bambee, and Bruce who arrived in the golf course armed with a baseball bat and Mrs. Maridel de la Paz who was armed with a bladed weapon.

Valley Golf expelled De la Paz after their in-house investigation showed that Delfin initiated the fight.

Pangandaman’s lawyer Ted Pastrana said the Valley Golf decision showed that his clients acted in self-defense during the brawl.

Pastrana added that the decision vindicated the Pangandamans.

Fortun said negotiations for an out-of-court settlement between the camps of the De la Pazes and the Pangandamans are ongoing.

However, he refused to reveal the progress of the negotiations but claimed they are seeking an initial demand of a public apology and a way for Bino to regain confidence in his golf career.

Fortun said Bino was demoralized after getting a copy of the Pangandamans’ affidavit stating that he “got hold of a driver and tried to swing it at the brothers.”

“The callousness of the accusations is so appalling. If we have to believe it, the driver could hit the ball for 270 yards and imagine what would happen when it hit you,” he said.

“The false accusation is something that a child should not be exposed to. What is clear in the Valley Golf decision is that Bino was beaten up twice.”     – Non Alquitran