A woman who claims to have witnessed the Sunday airport brawl involving columnist Ramon 'Mon' Tulfo and celebrity-couple Raymart Santiago and Claudine Barretto is corroborating the claims of the actors that Tulfo had kicked Barretto in the moments just prior to the melee.
"We saw this woman ranting at these personnel over what I presumed was lost baggage," the alleged witness going by the pseudonym "Anna" told InterAksyon.com over a phone interview. "But what really made me turn and take notice was when she started addressing this man in a photographer's jacket."
Anna says she did not recognize Barretto, her husband, Raymart, nor Tulfo, and did not realize who they were until she got home and some hours later saw news reports and the YouTube video of what transpired next.
"The woman started shouting, 'Abusado yan!' and 'Are you taking photographs of us?'"
She said she saw "the man in the gray shirt" - apparently referring to Santiago - approach "the man in the photographer's jacket" - Tulfo - asking, "Ano 'yan? Ano 'yan?"
Tulfo, she said, started making "fast" movements, "not really punches the way a boxer would do, but more like kung fu moves." He jabbed and "pushed with a kick" - a hand and a foot moving forward simultaneously - apparently trying to create space and ward off the approaching Santiago.
Tulfo has acknowledged shoving Santiago, saying the actor was trying to confiscate his cellphone.
"Sinapak niya," Anna said, though she could not say exactly where Santiago was hit.
Claudine then started approaching as well, Anna said. Tulfo again moved with his arms and legs, while Claudine was shouting, "What are you doing?" the witness said.
"Tumili si Claudine, and at this point, security was rushing," Anna said. She then noticed how Tulfo hid his phone in a breast pocket, and, with empty hands waving the air, "mocked" Claudine.
"Wala, wala akong cellphone," Anna quoted Tulfo.
At this point, Anna said, "we had thought that the whole thing was about this dirty old tourist who was taking pictures of this lady. And so we were actually trying to support her." She admits she wasn't aware of Tulfo's own claimed context behind Sunday's confrontation. The Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist, radio commentator and TV5 talent says he was taking pictures to document Barretto's behaviour towards the Cebu Pacific ground crew, which he suggested had gone from being rude to being abusive.
In any case, Anna said, they could only make out how Tulfo had hidden his phone and was denying he even had one on his person.
"Nasa bulsa ang cellphone! Nasa bulsa ang cellphone!" Anna said.
Santiago and Barretto supposedly asked aloud if there were any policemen or security personnel who could compel Tulfo to give up his cellphone.
Anna quotes Barretto as saying, "Hanapin niyo ang cellphone. Pakita niyo sa akin." Within arm's length, supposedly, of Tulfo, she was egging on security personnel to get Tulfo's phone, ostensibly to verify whether or not he had taken pictures of Barretto.
Then, Anna said, "We saw him assault Claudine." She said Tulfo "pushed and kicked" again.
"Natamaan si Claudine. I can't say where exactly, but sa may thigh area," she said.
That, Anna said, is what caused Santiago and his companions to pounce on Tulfo. "The video that we saw and that everybody has seen, that was the end of the whole thing na."
She insists that Tulfo's account of the incident, as she's seen in the news, "is not correct."
Tulfo on Monday evening appeared on TV5's "T3", a public service program anchored by his three younger brothers, Raffy, Erwin, and Ben. (InterAksyon.com is the online news portal of TV5.) In the show, Tulfo reiterated that it was Santiago who jumped and hit him unprovoked. Tulfo said he shoved Santiago when the actor tried to physically grab his cellphone, and was supposedly trying to walk away when he was attacked by Santiago's group.
A witness posted a video of the ensuing brawl on YouTube. It shows Tulfo being held back by airport security, and then Santiago, his companions, and then even Barretto, hitting the media personality.
Tulfo says it was in this commotion that he may have inadvertently hit Barretto. The actress later on showed airport officials and the press bruises on her leg. It was not all too clear in the YouTube video, however, whether or not those same bruises were already there when they were ganging up on Tulfo.
For his part, Tulfo ended up with a bloodied eye and bruises on his face.
For all the conflicting accounts, airport officials themselves on Monday were also being taken to task by media, the public, and all parties in Sunday's affair. The absence of any CCTV footage, resulting from the apparent absence of CCTV cameras, has not only failed to erase confusion, it has raised questions about security and management in the airport.
Both the Tulfo and Barretto-Santiago parties insist that footage of the events prior to the actual fight would corroborate their respective versions of what exactly transpired.
SOURCE
InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
