Pamatong's victims

NEWS that lawyer Elly Velez Pamatong had been arrested in the Philippines at a military checkpoint in Mabitac, Laguna on June 25 did not come as a shock to Filipinos in the San Francisco Bay Area who knew him in the 80s and 90s as a local immigration attorney and eccentric tabloid publisher.

Although many believed it was only a matter of time before Pamatong would be arrested, it still came as a surprise that Pamatong was charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives after he was arrested in a vehicle that contained what the Philippine Star reported was a "terrorist's cache of military and surveillance equipment, including an M203 grenade launcher, an M-16 rifle, an Intratech machine pistol, two caliber .45 automatics, assorted ammunition, two binoculars, a sniper's telescope and a military compass." Also found on Pamatong was a fake American passport.

At the time of his arrest, Pamatong had been the object of a nationwide manhunt after he admitted in a radio interview that on June 21, he had scattered 800 especially designed metal nails in the major streets of Metro Manila. Pamatong justified his activity, which caused flat tires to an estimated 167 vehicles and tied up traffic for hours in major thoroughfares, as his personal act of protest against government corruption and his belief that actor Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ) had won the presidency.

Just before he was captured, Pamatong announced in a nationwide TV interview with ABS-CBN that he had organized the International Militia of the People against Corruption and Terrorism (IMPACT) and that he would launch a nationwide anti-government campaign of burning schoolhouses, which he claimed are being used to teach dishonesty and corruption. Philippine government spokesperson Ignacio Bunye denounced Pamatong as a "terrorist who should pay for his crimes."

How did a self-styled "international lawyer" end up as a "terrorist"?

Pamatong first arrived in San Francisco in 1974 as a "refugee" of the Marcos dictatorship, befriending then Philippine News publisher Alex Esclamado in whose home he resided as a guest for a few months.

When Pamatong learned that New York had a reciprocity arrangement with the Philippines (since rescinded) that allowed Philippine lawyers who were graduates of the UP College of Law to practice law in the state, Pamatong moved to New York and set up a law practice there.
Because a member of any state bar could practice federal immigration law in all 50 states, Pamatong set up an immigration law office in San Francisco. He also published a local tabloid, which promoted his law office and his political activities.

Pamatong's newspapers regularly featured Pamatong's claim that Filipinos born in the Philippines before July 4, 1946 -- when the Philippines was a colony of the United States -- are US citizens. 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.

One Filipino couple complained that they paid 10,000 dollars to Pamatong who guaranteed that he would obtain green cards for them. Pamatong filed their political asylum applications and obtained temporary work permits for them. But their asylum applications were denied and they were placed in deportation proceedings.

What shocked them, however, was that while their applications were pending, Pamatong suddenly showed up in their doorstep one day and asked to live with them temporarily until he could settle in a new apartment. Afraid to turn him down as their lives depended on what he would do for them or what he could do to them, they provided him with free board and lodging for a month and catered to his every need as their guest.

Another Fil-Am immigration attorney related the story of an attractive Pinay client who Pamatong fancied and courted. Before he could have sex with her though, she insisted that they get married first. Pamatong agreed and "married" her before an American who Pamatong claimed was an ordained minister. He wasn't.

Another attorney, a California-certified immigration specialist, recalled the case of a Pinay from Stockton who Pamatong also courted and bilked of 50,000 dollars. The Pinay filed a criminal complaint against Pamatong and news of the case was reported in the Philippine News.

In retaliation for publishing the news story, Pamatong filed a defamation suit against Philippine News, and published sensationalized accounts of the debts of Alex Esclamado, his first host in America. Although Pamatong's defamation suit was dismissed by the court, considerable damage was inflicted on Esclamado's reputation.

Another prominent victim of Pamatong's pen was former San Francisco consul general Amado Cortez who incurred Pamatong's wrath because he could not or would not arrange a private audience for Pamatong with visiting President Joseph Estrada in 1999. Pamatong devoted an entire issue of his tabloid to publishing every negative piece of gossip he could gather about Cortez and his wife Gloria Sevilla.

But eventually the lies and the debts mounted for Pamatong. In the summer of 2000, Pamatong announced that he was returning to the Philippines and that he planned to run for Congress in Mindanao in 2001 and then to run for president of the Philippines in 2004.

With the help of his friend, Nur Misuari, Pamatong ran for a congressional seat in the May 2001 elections in Mindanao but, not surprisingly, lost.

After September 11, 2001, Pamatong's politics became even more bizarre. According to a report in the Philippine Star, Pamatong spoke at a rally of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in November 2001. In his speech, Pamatong asked his audience to "emulate" the 19 "martyred" followers of Osama bin Laden. "If such a small number of people can attract the attention of the international community," Pamatong said, "why can't the MNLF catch the attention of the Philippine government and the world?"

Reflecting the Jekyll-and-Hyde character of his personality, Pamatong then set up the Discovery Crusade of the Philippines in Manila to "defend" the United States Embassy from demonstrations by militant leftists. Setting up his base at an office across from the US Embassy (where he still owes the landlord 500,000 pesos in rent), Pamatong recruited Filipinos who believed that the Philippines should be the 52nd state of the US.

In October of 2003, Pamatong announced that he was running for president of the Philippines on the twin platform of declaring war against China over the disputed Spratly Islands and on granting every Filipino applicant a visa to the US.

When the Commission on Elections (Comelec) declared Pamatong a "nuisance candidate," he chained himself to the gate of the Comelec main office to protest his exclusion.

The nuisance candidate then declared war on the government. And now he sits in jail in Santa Cruz, Laguna unable to post bail.

If you have a complaint about Pamatong, please contact the Philippine Consulate at 447 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA 94102. The consulate will forward your complaint to Philippine authorities.

Rodel Rodis is a San Francisco attorney and elected member of the San Francisco Community College Board. He can be reached at 2429 Ocean Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94127 or by calling +415 334 7800. His e-mail is rodel50@aol.com.