CSA student asks fiscal: Don’t dismiss gun raps vs parent

MANILA, Philippines - Lawyers representing a Colegio San Agustin high school senior who was threatened with a gun by an angry parent asked the Makati City prosecutor’s office to push through with the preliminary investigation of the case.

Alan Tan and Dominic Balane, lawyers of 18-year-old Jesus Manuel Garcia, said the motion to dismiss or suspend the preliminary investigation of the charges against Allan Bantiles must be junked because it is “a dilatory maneuver.”

Bantiles, who has been charged with attempted murder, slander and slander by deed, claimed Garcia allegedly committed perjury by stating in his complaint that prior to the alleged gun-poking incident, he flicked a classmate’s shoulder with a ballpen.

Bantiles said that in several media interviews Garcia admitted having stabbed one classmate and punched another. The boy he punched was reportedly Bantiles’ son and the one he reportedly stabbed has filed child abuse charges against Garcia before the Makati City prosecutor’s office.

Garcia’s lawyers said their client never denied the incident and the use of the words “flick” and “stab” is just a matter of semantics. They said Garcia hitting his classmate with a pen was his reaction to his classmates’ “sustained acts of harassment.”

The Philippine National Police revoked Bantiles’ licenses for a Glock 9mm pistol and a .45 caliber pistol following the gun-poking incident. Garcia had accused Bantiles of slapping him and pointing a .45-caliber pistol at his head during a confrontation at the CSA faculty office last Aug. 30.