An employee of the San Juan City Hall who was involved in a now-viral video of confrontation with Senator Jinggoy Estrada explained her side of the story regarding what happened in the tense encounter between them.
In an interview with the Manila Bulletin on Sunday, August 25, Pia Gil, the woman in the video, clarified her side as she was being accused of blocking Estrada's staff from entering the evacuation center, which led to the conflict.
According to her, the incident occurred last April outside the San Juan Gym evacuation center, following a fire incident.
She said that Estrada's staff wanted to get the details of the fire victims, which social workers did not provide due to the Data Privacy Act.
Instead, she said they were given a general overview of the affected families.
“Paulit-ulit niyang sinasabi na hinarang ko mga tao niya, when in fact gabi na po ako nakarating sa area (between 6 and 6:30 p.m.). I never stepped inside the evacuation center kase may protocol. Kahit ako na part ng LGU, since I have no official function sa loob. Hindi rin po ako allowed (He kept on saying that I blocked his people, when in fact I arrived at the area in the evening. I never stepped inside the evacuation center because of protocol. Even though I am part of the LGU, I am not allowed inside since I had no official function there),” Gil said.
“Gusto kase nila makuha yung details ng mga nasunugan, which was explained to them na ‘di allowed ang City Social Welfare and Development (CSWD) to release. [Dapat] makipag coordinate with [the] Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to get the listing (They wanted to get the details of those affected by the fire, but it was explained to them that the City Social Welfare and Development (CSWD) is not allowed to release that information. They need to coordinate with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to get the list),” she said.
On the other hand, Estrada said in his statement that their purpose for going to the evacuation center was to tell the fire victims that they would be doling out cash incentives to them.
However, according to Gil, Estrada's staff did not coordinate with the CSWD office for their announcement, which is protocol.
She added that the staff never presented any ID or documents to prove they had an official function from the senator's office before the incident.
“Hindi sila nakipag coordinate with the CSWD office para sa announcement. Ayuda is ayuda. Hindi hinaharang ng LGU ‘yan kase mas maraming tumutulong mas madali for the LGU (They didn't coordinate with the CSWD office for the announcement. Aid is aid; the LGU will not stop that because the more help there is, the easier it is for the LGU to provide help for the fire victims),” Gil stated.
“Ang kapatid niya na senador, alam ang protocol. Nagpadala ng official letter sa CSWD para ma coordinate yung assistance na pinamigay nila (His sibling, who is also a senator, knows even the protocol. They sent an official letter to the CSWD to coordinate the assistance they distributed),” she added.
Gil said that the clash between them started after someone informed them that Estrada was causing a scene inside the evacuation center, prompting her to go and look for the CSWD's chief so she could avoid the two having a potential encounter.
When she saw that none of the senator's staff knew where the CSWD's chief was, she then decided to leave the evacuation center to also avoid any commotion.
However, she stated that, “Nung nakatalikod na ‘ko, narinig ko na lang si sen. na sumisigaw na ‘Hoy! Hoy Pia Gil’ I looked at him, raised my hand as if dismissing him while continuing to walk away (When I had turned my back, I just heard the senator shouting, 'Hey! Hey Pia Gil.' I looked at him, raised my hand as if dismissing him while continuing to walk away).”
“Kaso hinabol niya pa ‘ko and sinasabihan ng bastos at ‘hoy’ ulit and ‘yun na po ang nakita sa video (But he chased after me and called me rude and 'hey' again, and that's what was captured in the video),” she clarified.
Also, she added that Estrada allegedly shouted at her, but it was not captured on the video.
Meanwhile, Gil denied any political motivation behind the video and clarified that she and her team did not release the video.
“April ‘yan nangyari. Kaya nagtataka din ako bakit ngayon lumabas… and for clarification, sila ang nag-video niyan. Analyze niyo ang boses ng babae, ako ang binabanatan sa mga side comments niya (That happened in April. So, I’m also wondering why it’s coming out now. And for clarification, they were the ones who filmed it. Try to analyze the voice of the woman in the video; I’m being targeted by her side comments),” she stated.
On Friday, Estrada released a statement to explain his side.
Read more: https://mb.com.ph/2024/8/24/jinggoy-estrada-explains-viral-confrontation-video