Anderson
MORE Cebu-based friends of Customs official Mandy Therese Anderson came out to speak in her defense, describing her as a “woman of integrity and one who speaks her heart out.”
Laura Diaz Chiong, a childhood friend of Anderson in Cebu City, said she was not surprised by Anderson’s brave front when she was confronted by lawmakers in Congress.
“She was brought up to stand tall, speak out and stand their ground as long as the cause was worth fighting for,” Chiong said.
Ktec Alazas, Anderson’s football coach back in high school, has nothing but compliments for his former player.
“I am proud to what she has become today,” Alazas said in a separate interview.
Messages of support have flooded the Facebook (FB) account of Anderson since she became controversial when she called House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez an “imbecile” in her online post.
Anderson was scolded by Majority Floor leader Rudy Fariñas during a July 26, House inquiry on the P6.4 billion “shabu” confiscated by the Bureau of Customs from a warehouse in Valenzuela City.
Anderson is the chief of staff of Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon.
Her cousin, lawyer Tercel Maria Mercado-Gephart, defended Anderson, saying “she has not done anything wrong.”
“By publicly humiliating Mandy, over her assertion of her right to the freedom of expression, whether a public employee or not, Fariñas justified (and exemplified) Mandy’s “imbecile” comment,” Gephart said in her FB post.