Lani Cayetano: Tinga to blame for city hall violence

MANILA, Philippines - Re-electionist Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano on Tuesday said last Saturday’s violent incident at the city hall that left injured 12 supporters of Rica Tinga and her Kilusang Diwa ng Taguig (KDT) should be blamed on Tinga.

In a statement, Cayetano said Tinga was “foolishly reckless” and “grossly irresponsible” for placing her own interest ahead of those she leads when she rallied her supporters to storm the city hall.

“Tayo pong mga lider ay may responsibilidad sa ating mga taga-suporta at tagasunod. Nakaatang po sa ating balikat na sila ang kanilang kapakanan, na sila ay dalhin sa mabuti at hindi sa kapahamakan,”  Cayetano, who is running under the Nacionalista Party said.

“Ang ginawa po ni Rica Tinga noong Sabado ay napaka-iresponsable. Isinuong niya sa kaguluhan ang kanyang mga taga-suporta nang nagpasya siyang sugurin ang city hall. Ikinalulungkot ko po ang nangyari at mariin kong kinokondena ang mga aksyon ni Rica Tinga,” added Cayetano.

Cayetano said Tinga has to blame herself for instigating the violence in city hall.

“Mataas po ang tingin ng ating mga tagasunod sa kanilang mga lider. Kaya nga po malaki po talaga ang responsibilidad na aming dinadala. Kaya ako po ay nananawagan kay Rica Tinga na unahin po niya ang kaligtasan ng kanyang mga taga-suporta kaysa sa mga sarili niyang interes,” she said.

Meanwhile, Cayetano said Tinga’s camp should stop inciting violence to justify a “political hotspot” tag on the city that would pave the way for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to take control.

“Hindi po ito tama at lalong hindi po ito nararapat para sa kapakanan kahit ng mga tagasuporta ni Rica Tinga. Ito po ay isang malaking kasinungalingan na gawa-gawa lamang ng kampo nina Rica Tinga,” she said.

The Nacionalista Party-Taguig, for its part, described the claims of Tinga as nothing but lies to show that there is increasing election-related violence in Taguig.

Lyle Pasco, NP-Taguig legal counsel, said Tinga actually gave conflicting statements to the media on the city hall incident.

Pasco said during her earlier media interviews, Tinga denied entering the city hall compound and said that she and her supporters were only conducting a house-to-house campaign near city hall when unidentified men attacked them without provocation.

“But when a video footage surfaced showing Tinga and her supporters running towards city hall, she changed her story and admitted she entered the premises to try and shake hands with security personnel,” Pasco said.

“Her lies blew up in her face. The whole incident was planned and staged accordingly in order to provoke violence and falsely present Taguig as a possible election hotspot. But now Rica has nothing but blood on her hands, and they are of her supporters,” he added.