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He will never be president—
but Elly provides us perennial comic relief
By PURPLE ROMERO
abs-cbnNEWS. com/Newsbreak
abs-cbnNEWS. com/Newsbreak
He has done outrageous things—from suing Pope Benedict to scattering spikes on EDSA in 2004, which damaged a hundred cars, after he was declared a nuisance candidate in the presidential elections.
What is Elly Velez Pamatong now up to?
He is now up in arms against the highest court of the land. Recently, he filed impeachment complaints against the Supreme Court justices for mistakenly putting Chavez as his middle name and not Velez, and for allegedly restricting free access to courts with expensive legal fees. He also hit at the ‘Supreme Curse’ for allegedly taking sides during the impeachment of now deposed President Joseph Estrada.
The 64-year old Pamatong, with exploits ala-Forrest Gump’s and missions ala-Don Quixote, could have been another cutout character from a bestselling fiction novel, but he is of bone and flesh, a lawyer even, who graduated from the University of the Philippines and worked as legal counsel for Moro National Liberation Front chairman Nur Misuari and the communist rebel group New People’s Army.
In a telephone interview with abs-cbnNEWS. com/Newsbreak, which caused him to ‘recharge his two cellphones,’ he told us his life, loves (he was married thrice), the different hats he wore, and his quest to make the Philippines a better country.
Not a revolution
“Do you want me to burn Manila?” he told us when asked why he filed a number of complaints against political and religious heavyweights. “I filed these complaints because that is the only thing left for an ordinary citizen to do, to cleanse the country of corruption. I’d rather file and file these complaints than start my own revolution,” he said.
Pamatong first filed a complaint with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines in 2004, which sought the disbarment of Commission on Elections commissioners Resurrección Borra and Rufino Javier, former commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and the late law department chief Alioden Dalaig.
While reports said that he filed the complaint because they allowed ‘incompetent’ contenders such as Vice President Noli de Castro and showbiz personalities such as Senators Lito Lapid, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and former legislators Robert Jaworski, Loren Legarda and Vicente Sotto 3rd to run for office, Pamatong said that he pursued their disbarment because Dalaig, who was gunned down in November 10,2005, allegedly asked P10 million from him in return for recognizing his candidacy.
Politicians and popes
He also filed an impeachment complaint against de Castro in the same year, which was junked by the House of Representatives in 2005. “It was just stupid. De Castro should never have run for something which he doesn’t know a thing about. I mean, he’s a broadcaster, not a politician. Also, among the 3,000 candidates, he’s the only one who did not get a cedula,” he explained.
Last April 2007, he sought the disbarment of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez for his remarks against slain US Peace Corp volunteer Julia Campbell. Gonzalez called Campbell ‘careless’ for hiking in Batad, Ifugao alone, where she was found dead early in April last year.
Pamatong also filed the complaint against Gonzalez for promising to give P10,000 to each barangay chairman who could ensure a 12-0 victory for administration force TEAM Unity in the province of Iloilo in the 2007 elections.
In May 2007, he sought the disqualification of Fr. Ed Panlilio from the gubernatorial race, where Pamatong was also one of the candidates. He said that Panlilio violated the canon of universal law.
A former Protestant who converted to Catholicism, he also sued Joseph Alois Ratzinger a.k.a Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales last April 29 for human rights violations and alleged corruption. “Every town has bell towers and loudspeakers. If you are a protestant, you would be bombarded with their disoriented prayers and mantras early in the morning. Isn’t that human rights violation? I believe in freedom of expression in religion, but there should be limits,” he said.
‘Perfect crime’
Pamatong, third among a family of nine, is a son of the Second World War. Born in the foothills of Mt. Malindang on July 10, 1943, he spent his childhood near the Putongan River Valley in Misamis Occidental, Mindanao.
In the biography he sent us, Pamatong recalled being a naughty boy, adept at crafting tricks and weaving stories. One time, he was whipped by his father with his leather belt for peeping at the ‘white legs and underwear’ of his teacher. As payback, he made a trap for his teacher by digging a hole and covering it with dry leaves. His teacher fell and almost broke her ‘beautiful legs,’ but as Pamatong wrote, ‘the crime was perfect.’
He was later sent to Siliman University where he earned his bachelor in arts, and then to the UP College of Law, where he had an epiphany, he said, and thought he could be the next president of the Philippines.
“Ever since I stepped inside the halls of UP, I dreamt of becoming the president of our country,” he said.
However, that dream never came true after he was declared a nuisance candidate in 2004. “I was the most qualified person for the presidency then. I was not a dropout. Look at the other candidates – Lacson is just a police, and there was Eddie Gil, who may have mental problems,” he said.
Pamatong tried again his luck at public office last year, where he fielded himself against political stalwarts former Pampanga Gov. Mark Lapid, senior board member Lilia “Baby” Pineda and heavy favorite Fr. Ed Panlilio for the gubernatorial seat in Pampanga. He lost with only 600 votes.
We never know what’s next in Pamatong’s bag of antics. For now, he’s providing the Supreme Court comic relief.
cocoy
Ang palayaw nitong si Pamatong ay “Tongpats”.
Si Pamatong ay Pro-American, ewan ko kung anong partido siya panig. If I get him right on his thinking, mas nakakabuti pang maging estado na lang tayo ng America para magbago naman ang kapalaran ng mga Pinoy.
We may agree with him or not, pero sa damdamin ni Pamatong may marubdub din siyang hangarin para sa kabutihan ng bayan.
Mali nga lang kung minsan ang mga pamamaraan niya, kutulad ng napabalitang siya daw ay nagpakalat ng mga spikes sa EDSA. Pati Patrol car ng pulis, na-flat tire, he-he.
Kaya lang mas guwapo si Tito Cocoy sa kanya ng dalawampong paligo. Yehey!
Comic relief si Pamatong sa gitna ng mga naglalabasan scandals sa gobyerno. Ito pa ang isa.
Noong May 12, 2008, hiniling ni Pamatong sa Korte Suprema ang TAKE OVER NG MILITAR SA GOBYERNO
upang ma-proteksyunan at mapangasiwaan ng Armed Forces of the Philippines ang sambayanang Pilipino at ang teritoryo nito.
Sa kanyang very urgent petition for mandamus, naghain din si Pamatong ng siyam na panuntunan kaugnay sa gagawing pangangasiwa ng AFP sa bansa.
Kabilang sa mga guidelines na ito ay ang pag-take over ng military sa tatlong sangay ng pamahalaan, pagbuo ng electoral commission para sa isasagawang snap elections at pagsasagawa ng financial audit mula 1946 hanggang sa kasalukuyan.
Sinabi ni Pamatong na makatwiran ang pagkakaroon ng military take-over bunsod aniya ng kabiguan ng pamahalaan na matugunan ang mga problemang nararanasan ng bansa.Inihalimbawa nito ang mga problema ng bansa tulad ng imoralidad, talamak na korapsyon, pandarambong, trea son at iba pang capital offenses.
At hindi pa nagtapos doon ang kanyang inihaing petisyon sa Supreme Court.
Idinagdag pa niya ma sa sandaling nasa kapangyarihan na anya ng military ang pamahalaan, dapat ipadakip sina Pangulong Arroyo at First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo at saka i-firing squad sa Quirino Grandstand dahil aniya sa kanilang mga kasalanan sa bayan.
“Every town has bell towers and loudspeakers. If you are a protestant, you would be bombarded with their disoriented prayers and mantras early in the morning. Isn’t that human rights violation? I believe in freedom of expression in religion, but there should be limits,” – Pamatong
I must admit, I agree with this nuts!
(Silip dito dilip doon lang muna :))
Manay Chi
How’s Vegas? I hope wala dyang pila sa bigas!
Pamatong is one of the perennial candidates in any position up for grab. In 2004, he was really mad at the Comelec for being disqualified as a nuisance candidate. He mustered his supporters and march in the streets leading to Comelec office in Aduana. We believe he should should not be disqualified on the strength of Comelec’s reasoning that he can’t mount a nationwide campaign.
If we recall, in 2007 a certain Cayetano was fielded in the last election to thwart Allan Cayetano’s candidacy for Senator but was not disqualified by Comelec. Nationwide din ang coverage for senator. Itong si Pamatong, altho he was vying for the presidency, he’s is unquestionably qualified being a lawyer and for having had previous government position and other employment.
Isang example yan kung paano binaboy ni Abalos ang Comelec. And I think Pamatong is sane, maybe just in the level of another lawyer, Oliver Lozano, who just would like to grab media attention.
Sa hindi nakakakilala kay Pamatong, dating immigration lawyer iyan sa California. Maraming kababayan ang niloko kaya blacklisted siya doon. Ngayon, sa Pilipinas na siya nag-iingay at nagra-racket. Isang US citizen iyan…bakit nasa Pilipinas at kumikilos na parang isang tunay na Pilipino. Paki-check na lang ng BID ang status ni Atty. Tonpats.
Journalist Perry Diaz of Balita-USA wrote this:
If there’s one who has entertained Filipinos in so many ways, Elly Pamatong is the man. Filipino-Americans would remember him when he filed a claim with the U.S. government that Filipinos born before July 4, 1946 were American citizens. Although his claim was ignored by the U.S. government, a lot of Filipinos in the U.S. including TNTs (Tago Ng Tago) used his claim — known as the Elly Pamatong doctrine — in applying for U.S. citizenship.
Elly also published a Fil-Am newspaper and used it — unsuccessfully — in his “war” against an American bishop in Vallejo, California. I remember when Elly called me sometime in 1989 and demanded that I give him a copy of a list of the Filipino-Americans in my locality. I was then the President of the local Fil-Am community and was also the Editor of a community newsletter. When I told him that the list was personal and confidential, he threatened me with a lawsuit. I told him that he can sue me but I would never give him the list. I never heard from him again.
His stay in the U.S. was short-lived.
Sa biglang tingin akala mo ay isang Muslim sa Pamatong. Pero hindi naman daw siya Muslim. Hindi kaya magagalit sa kanya ang mga kapatid nating Muslim dahil sa pagsusuot niya ng kasuotan ng mga Muslim? What may be his reason for this?
Muslim siya…taga Slum este Islam.
Manila Standard, June 28, 2004
13 ways to make Pamatong eat nails
With apologies to The Tonight Show of David Letterman we present “The Passion of Pamatong” or the Top Ten Ways to Punish Elly Pamatong for sowing spikes along the busiest thoroughfares of Metro Manila, causing 131 reported flat tires and even a few accidents.
13. Force -feed him with — what else?
12. Make him swallow Eddie Gil’s towering toupee.
11. Make him lie down on a bed of nails.
10. Crucify him with rusty nails.
9. Tie deflated tires around his neck and drown him.
8. Make him lie down for 24 hours on the fast lane of Edsa.
7. String him up by his thumbs in front of the PNP firing range.
6. Pinch him with a nail cutter until he repents.
5. Make him shoot a bold movie with Madam Auring and Eddie Gil entitled “Kapos sa Haplos.”
4. Nail him on a hook behind the door of every victim’s toilet.
3. Force him to go on a one-man, 24/7 rally in front of the US embassy so he can stand on a platform of US-made steel nails.
2. Forty years fixing punctured tires in a vulcanizing shop.
And the no. 1 and best way to punish Pamatong: Make him eat his own nails — fingernails and toenails.
Iyan si Pamatong marami talagang niloko na TNT dito sa America,naging immigration lawyer daw at ginawa niyang raket ang kanyang pagka-abugado at mga kapwa pa niya Pinoy ang mga biktima niya.
Marami ding mga blind followers iyang si Elly boy dito. Puro mga mahihirap na kababayan natin ang kanyang nahihikayat na sumapi sa kanyang samahan. Sa mukha na lang talagan magdududa ka na.
Wala din iyang pinagkaiba kay Eddie Gil ang bilyonaryo kunong Pinoy na kaya niyang bayaran ang pagkakautang ng Pilipinas sa kanyang minanang kayamanan sa Europe.
Kumander Pipi, ang racket ni Pamatong sa US iyong “political asylum” kuno. May isa pang abogado na Pinoy na wanted doon…si Atty. Leonard De Vera. May maraming kaso sa California at maraming kababayan din niloko.
Pamatong first arrived in San Francisco in 1974 as a refugee of the Marcos dictatorship,
Filipinos facing deportation retained Pamatong to represent them and argue that they are US citizens, if they were born in the Philippines before 1946, or even after, if their parents were born in the Philippines before 1946.
The argument had no legal merit as US courts (Salvante v. INS, Rabang v. INS) have consistently held that “persons born in the Philippines during its status as a United States territory were not ‘born . . . in the United States’ under the Fourteenth Amendment (“The Fourteenth Amendment has an “express territorial limitation which prevents its extension to every place over which the government exercises its sovereignty”).”
But the lack of merit did not deter Pamatong from promoting the spurious claim and from attracting desperate TNT clients who would pay any amount for a chance to remain in the US. The lack of merit and Pamatong’s failure to file timely appeal briefs resulted in the dismissal of a number of his clients’ cases and his disbarment from at least four regional courts of appeal.
Greggy
Tama yang sinabi mo about Pamatong having been in the business of luring Filipinos in the US to claim citizenships under the theory that before the Philippines was granted independence in 1946, and being considered a US territory, Filipinos can claim American citizenship. It extended even in the Philippines and I recall many were swindled for x amount as you know, the penchant of many Filipinos to go to the land of milk and honey made them easy victims.
May tululing ang Pamatong na iyan,ayun sa mga kuwento ng mga nakakakilala sa ungok na iyan dito sa SF ay bigla na lang daw sulpot sa pintuan ng mga klienti niya sa pintuan at nakikitira na sa kanilang bahay,iyun naman iba ay pinagbibigyan dahil natatakot silang mawalan ng abugado sa kaso nila.
Iyang Atty. Pamatong na iyan dapat may pampatong o tongpats ka bago ka niya tutulungan. Ewan ko ba pero halos sabay silang umuwi (tumakas) ni Atty. Leonardo de Vera sa Pilipinas.