ANGELES CITY – Businessman Ruperto “Perto” Cruz said yesterday the 40-hour standoff at their golf course here could have blown out of proportion similar to the Manila Hostage crisis at the Luneta grandstand last year where nine people, mostly tourists from Hong Kong, were killed.
Cruz said at least 11 Korean nationals were trapped at the Royal Garden Golf and Country Club (RGGCC) when the Nepomuceno family built two concrete walls at the passage leading to the golf course in Barangay Cutcut here in the wee hours of Monday.
Cruz and his Korean partners owned the RGGCC, while the Nepomucenos’ property is adjacent to the golf course and their some 800-meter lot is just before the main entrance of the RGGCC. But Cruz said they have been using that road for about ten years now.
“Our calm handling of the situation, asking our friends in the media to localize, precluded the coming of the international media to the scene of what is surely an international incident. The country is yet to recover from the Manila hostage and we did not need another embarrassing event. In a way, we saved Angeles and the country from another blunder brought about by a poor handling of a crisis,” said Cruz as their family and the Nepomucenos are set to attend a hearing at the Angeles City regional trial court today (January 21).
Cruz said they urged the trapped Koreans not to call their embassy at the height of the crisis, assuring them that it would be resolved at the local level.
“It could have developed into an international crisis. The Korean government could have issued an advisory on its nationals to avoid Angeles. It will be a disaster as there are reportedly some 10,000 Koreans staying in Angeles at any given time,” said Cruz.
Cruz said they had been asked to use as exit point the back portion of the RGCC in nearby Barangay Sta. Cruz, Porac.
“It’s easier said than done. It’s a barren area and how could children, women and old folk walk for many miles just to exit? There is danger there. See it for yourself,” said Cruz.
The Cruz family lambasted Angeles City police Station 5 commander Chief Supt. Ronaldo Lorenzo “for obviously being biased for the other side.”
“We first approach Major Lorenzo just to free old and young people at the golf course. He failed to act until pressured,” said the Cruz family.
A Korean living inside the RGGCC complained to Cruz that policemen from the Station 5 had videotaped their house in the area.
In a phone interview, Lorenzo said he had asked his men to check the RGGCC premises after he had received reports that there were trapped Koreans. He added that he had asked his men to do a video in the area “for documentation purposes.”
“I need the video for our report,” said Lorenzo. But he refused to be interviewed in person by reporters at the RGGCC on Tuesday night.
Cruz said Lorenzo “had no right getting video at their property without any permission” considering there was tension.
Cruz said at least 11 Korean nationals were trapped at the Royal Garden Golf and Country Club (RGGCC) when the Nepomuceno family built two concrete walls at the passage leading to the golf course in Barangay Cutcut here in the wee hours of Monday.
Cruz and his Korean partners owned the RGGCC, while the Nepomucenos’ property is adjacent to the golf course and their some 800-meter lot is just before the main entrance of the RGGCC. But Cruz said they have been using that road for about ten years now.
“Our calm handling of the situation, asking our friends in the media to localize, precluded the coming of the international media to the scene of what is surely an international incident. The country is yet to recover from the Manila hostage and we did not need another embarrassing event. In a way, we saved Angeles and the country from another blunder brought about by a poor handling of a crisis,” said Cruz as their family and the Nepomucenos are set to attend a hearing at the Angeles City regional trial court today (January 21).
Cruz said they urged the trapped Koreans not to call their embassy at the height of the crisis, assuring them that it would be resolved at the local level.
“It could have developed into an international crisis. The Korean government could have issued an advisory on its nationals to avoid Angeles. It will be a disaster as there are reportedly some 10,000 Koreans staying in Angeles at any given time,” said Cruz.
Cruz said they had been asked to use as exit point the back portion of the RGCC in nearby Barangay Sta. Cruz, Porac.
“It’s easier said than done. It’s a barren area and how could children, women and old folk walk for many miles just to exit? There is danger there. See it for yourself,” said Cruz.
The Cruz family lambasted Angeles City police Station 5 commander Chief Supt. Ronaldo Lorenzo “for obviously being biased for the other side.”
“We first approach Major Lorenzo just to free old and young people at the golf course. He failed to act until pressured,” said the Cruz family.
A Korean living inside the RGGCC complained to Cruz that policemen from the Station 5 had videotaped their house in the area.
In a phone interview, Lorenzo said he had asked his men to check the RGGCC premises after he had received reports that there were trapped Koreans. He added that he had asked his men to do a video in the area “for documentation purposes.”
“I need the video for our report,” said Lorenzo. But he refused to be interviewed in person by reporters at the RGGCC on Tuesday night.
Cruz said Lorenzo “had no right getting video at their property without any permission” considering there was tension.
