Lawmaker caught in video playing golf with entourage of heavily armed men

MANILA, Philippines - A congressman from Mindanao facing a graft case before the Office of the Ombudsman is again in hot water after being caught on video playing golf with an entourage of heavily armed civilians serving as security escorts.

In a video shown to The STAR, Misamis Occidental Rep. Loreto Leo Ocampos was seen on the fairway with more than a dozen unidentified men, most of them carrying M14 and M16 assault rifles, walking behind him.

“What is this? Is this Ampatuan part two?” one senior security official who viewed the video showing Ocampos, in stripe long-sleeves golfing shirt and wearing a hat, walking on the fairway while being followed by heavily armed men.

The officer was referring to the Ampatuan political clan in Maguindanao who ruled the province with impunity before the November 2009 massacre of 57 civilians, mostly members of the local media.

A man clad in white shirt who was believed to be Ocampos’ caddy was also shown in the video pulling a golf bag and with a handgun tucked in his waist.

As to why he too was armed is now the subject of an inquiry by concerned government security forces.

“To think that the good solon is also among those who are calling on the military and the police to disband private armed groups in the country, I could not believe what he is doing,” said a security official after watching Ocampos’ golf video.

But Ocampos denied roaming around in a golf course with a bevy of armed bodyguards.

He said he saw the supposed video and it was clear that they were manufactured.

“They can do anything now with the appropriate software. I think they got a footage of me walking and there were separate shots taken with my bodyguards and were spliced,” he said.

Ocampos also strongly denied allegations that, according to him, were being spread by members and backers of the dreaded Kuratong Baleleng criminal gang.

“I categorically deny these allegations. They came from the Kuratong Baleleng. They’re enemies and I’ve been fighting them for 15 years (when I was governor) because they’re not only involved in bank robberies but now also in drug trafficking and of late kidnapping again,” he told The STAR.

“They’re getting to be sophisticated now, engaging in black propaganda,” he said, adding the latest heists in the Bank of Philippine Islands in Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City and other banks in recent weeks were the handiwork of the criminal group.

He said the son of Reynaldo Parojinog, the founder of the criminal syndicate, made several attempts to enter politics to gain legitimacy and succeeded in 2001. 

He said Parojinog ran against him in the 2010 congressional race and lost because the elections were automated.

Ocampos said the allegations came after he complained against Parojinog’s bodyguards harassing voters. – Paolo Romero