’Twas only a baton, says Undersecretary Santiago

Not gun but police baton.

In his version, Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Narciso Santiago Jr. denied he poked a shotgun at former Defense Undersecretary Ruben Caranza, but a police baton to scare away barking dogs in front of their house.

"It’s a big lie. Caranza merely wanted to attract attention (from) the media to further magnify their (assault) against the administration," Santiago said.

Santiago described Caranza as the lawyer of Akbayan, a militant labor group prevented by the Supreme Court from staging protest actions meant to pressure Senator-judges to convict impeached President Estrada, now facing charges of bribery, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.

The gun poking incident, as alleged by Caranza, took place in front of the Santiago’s house at 29 Maalindog st., UP Village, Quezon City at around 11:45 p.m. last Tuesday. Caranza said Santiago was holding a shotgun, while a caliber .45 pistol was attacked in his waist.

Caranza and several companions had driven around the village, honking their horns to denounce Santiago’s wife, Senator-judge Miriam Defensor-Santiago and 10 others, who voted not to open the second envelope containing the documents of the P3 billion account of President Estrada under a fictitious name.

"Caranza could have learned that we are about to file contempt charges against him for continuously holding rallies despite the order of the highest tribunal," Santiago noted.

The undersecretary explained that Caranza and about nine other companions on board three cars were shouting invectives in front of their house denouncing his wife. – Cecille Suerte Felipe