Traffic enforcer: I was framed
FB video of street spat ‘misleading’; he helped priest, old woman
The Cebu City traffic enforcer who was caught on camera arguing with a teenager during the Sinulog parade yesterday said her Facebook rant only showed part of what really happened.
Bonifacio Legarde explained his side in an affidavit he submitted with supporting photos yesterday.
Legarde said he felt disrespected by the teenager when she asked him sarcastically if he was deaf.
The girl used a Facebook post to complain that she repeatedly called Legarde to ask him to help an old woman hail a taxi.
But Legarde said he didn’t notice the girl right away because he was busy helping a paralyzed priest on a wheelchair.
He said the teenager’s remark angered him and led to a confrontation.
The teenager’s friends took a video of the confrontation and posted it online.
The video has since been shared 2,778 times, viewed 186,000 times and received 1,300 comments since it was posted online five days ago.
Legarde said the video didn’t show what happened before and after the confrontation.
Rey Gealon, Cebu City Traffic Office executive director, said Legarde’s affidavit will be sent to the Human Resources department to determine appropriate action.
According to Legarde, before the teenagers noticed the old woman, he already spoke with the senior citizen and assured that he would get her a cab after he first helps the paralyzed priest.
He called the video of the incident and its posting online a “frame-up”.
He said the video clip was misleading because it only showed the confrontation and not the part where he helped the old woman into a cab.
“The old woman was the first to ride a cab even if the paralyzed priest came first,” he said.
Legarde said the video has tarnished his record as a public servant with no derogatory record in the last 28 years.
Legarde said the girl who posted the complaint sent a message on Facebook to his daughters saying she wanted to amicably settle the issue.
“I want to settle this in a good way even though wa koy papa (I don’t have a father). I still understand your part. I already forgive him,” the girl said in her message.
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