Asistio son again in trouble

A son of Caloocan District 2 Representative Luis "Baby" Asistio is again in the limelight after a construction worker filed charges of physical injuries Wednesday afternoon before the City Prosecutor’s Office.

In a sworn statement, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR, James Tria, 50, an employee of the G-Cube Construction, accused Luisito "Piting" Asistio and several others of beating him up.

The case was filed before Assistant City Prosecutor Marcos Diamsen on Thursday.

Tria said that at 3 p.m. last Wednesday, while he and other drainage workers were digging a canal on Baltazar street in Barangay 69, their engineer identified as German Tapoc ordered him to remove a tarpaulin of the congressman that was in the way of their project.

He was surprised after Asistio and his companions surrounded him after he took down the banner. Without a word, the young Asistio allegedly started slapping him.

"P...ina mo. Hindi mo ba ako kilala? Ako si Piting. Tatay ko yang tinanggal mo (Don’t you know who I am? I’m Piting. That’s my father’s banner that you took down!)," Asistio allegedly shouted at him. Punches then rained on him inflicted by Asistio’s companions, one of them hitting him squarely on the jaw.

Tria said he explained that he would return the streamer after doing their work. The elder Asistio is running for mayor of Caloocan in the May elections.

Tria said he made the statement in a bid to file appropriate charges against the young Asistio and his companions for the injuries he sustained.

The police, however, had a different story. On page 337 of the police blotter dated 5 p.m. of Feb. 28, Police Officer 3 Carlos Almario, the case investigator, said the parties had agreed to settle amicably.

The same Asistio son was earlier implicated in a kidnapping and possession of illegal drugs in Pampanga some two weeks ago but for some unexplained reason he was not taken into police custody.

Last week, the same Asistio son figured in another case in which he was accused of stealing used truck parts from a junkshop. He remains at large.