Blotter shows another suspect threatened Ateneo de Davao teacher

MANILA, Philippines – The Ateneo de Davao professor who was reportedly threatened by a Davao election officer filed a new entry in a police blotter, shedding more light on the incident condemned by his university.

On Wednesday, March 28, more than a week after the incident, Neil Ryan Pancho reported to police his version of the story. He said that contrary to the incident report filed by the Ateneo de Davao University Emergency Operations Center, it was not Commission on Elections Davao Regional Director Remlane Tambuang who bragged that they came from a family of lawyers “and killers.”

It was Tambuang’s sister, Walina Tambuang, who made that remark, Pancho said.

The professor added she “took a photo of me with her cellphone and asked one of the bodyguards to stand behind my back.”

The female Tambuang, according to Pancho, made her threats when he walked into a meeting, where he was called to explain why the Comelec official’s son received a failing mark in his class.

The son, who sent a copy of his grades to Rappler, got a final grade of “F” (for “failed”) in his Philippine Constitution and Government (PS 211) course. That was his only failing mark among the subjecs he enrolled in this semester. He got a “C” in the prelims, “C” in the midterm, and “F” for the pre-final.

According to the university’s student manual, Remlane’s son may apppeal his failing mark before the registrar’s office. He must include material evidence to support his appeal.

The appeal will go through a process, which could take a month before a decision is released. The manual does not state whether parents are allowed to appeal on the child’s behalf.

The parent earlier said he wanted to clarify why his son failed in Pancho’s class. The parent said he went to the university on March 15, and waited for 5 hours, but the professor “never showed up.” The parent returned on March 20 to seek the help of faculty members “to speak with the Dean so that he can ask the teacher to talk to me.”

Teacher could not meet parent

Pancho, the blotter showed, was told that Tambuang had been to the university on March 15. The parent was told the teacher was in an engagement at Camp Quentin Merecido of the Philippine National Police Region XI, some 10 kilometers away. Pancho is part of the university’s Center Against Illegal Drugs, according to a report.

A staff from the university informed Pancho that the parent “without any prior appointment” brought bodyguards. Pancho said this made him feel uncomfortable. He later told the staff to advise the parent to set an appointment.

On March 20, the parent finally met university administrators. Pancho said he missed the early part of the meeting because he had to attend a student’s thesis defense.

Tambuang first said Pancho did not present documents he requested, such as “test papers and attendance sheets to justify the failing mark that he gave to my son.”

But the professor said he was explaining how the grade was computed, but was interrupted by Tambuang’s sister, who said: “Don’t you know? We are a family of lawyers and killers. Put that on record.”

Victim ‘kept on explaining’ under threat

Pancho claimed he continued explaining, but the female Tambuang kept threatening him: “Alam mo, Sir, kaya naming pabagsakin ang Ateneo. (You know, sir, we can bring Ateneo down.) We can tell our relatives not to enroll here.”

It was at this time, Pancho recalled, she supposedly said that her brother was a Comelec regional director and that “kahit mayor o president naghihintay sa kanya! Pinaghintay mo siya nang limang oras.” (Whether mayors or presidents wait for him! But you made him wait for 5 hours.)

Pancho’s version of the story mentioned a new development which was not in the first blotter, which only accounted for what transpired beginning 6:15 pm of March 20.

Included now was Pancho’s claim that the Comelec official “cursed, yelled at us, and banged the table.” He also questioned Tambuang’s defense that he came to see the teacher not in his capacity as a government official.

This was because Tambuang and his sister, he said, are “actually officials of the Comelec and their presence in the school with their bodyguards, on a workday, during office hours, appears to be highly irregular as there was no official business they were attending to at the AdDU campus at that time.”

ADDU has condemned the incident. Its president, Father Joel Tabora SJ, says the university will be coordinating with government authorities to make sure complaints are filed against the Comelec official. – Rappler.com