MANILA, Philippines—The “golf war” isn’t by any measure over, but the initial inquiry indicated it wasn’t a case of arrogance of power, but a display of hubris.

The board of directors of Valley Golf and Country Club over the weekend cracked the whip on businessman Delfin de la Paz, deciding unanimously after an investigation to expel him as a member for “disorderly conduct in instigating the brawl” a day after Christmas on the rolling course in Antipolo City.

De la Paz’s children Bambee, 18, and Bino, 14, as dependents of an expelled member, were prohibited from the course. Bino, 14, is a member of the Philippine junior golf team, while Bambee is a golf scholar at University of Cincinnati in the United States.

De la Paz’s antagonist, Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman, also a club member, was suspended for two years.

Although not directly involved in the melee, Pangandaman was sanctioned for the “disorderly conduct” of his guests—his sons Hussein, 30, and Nasser Junior, 27, who is mayor of Masiu town in Lanao del Sur province.

The Pangandaman brothers, who beat up the 56-year-old De la Paz and his son, were “banned for life” from the club’s premises.

“The board agreed that the statements of the witnesses established that Mr. De la Paz started the aggression by hitting Nasser Pagandaman Jr. with an umbrella,” according to the decision by the nine-member body.

“Mr. De la Paz’s conduct was the proximate cause and the spark of the fighting that ensued wherein Nasser and Mohammed Hussein Pangandaman retaliated against Mr. De la Paz,” it said.

The two parties have filed complaints against each other in the prosecutor’s office of Antipolo for child abuse and physical injuries in connection with the Dec. 26 incident.

But even before the De la Paz family went to the prosecutor, an e-mail had been circulated by Bambee recounting how the Masiu mayor in violation of “Etiquette 101” had overtaken the family’s flight on Hole No. 3 without permission and, along with a sibling, went on to beat up her father and brother.

The cyberspace narrative insinuating abuse of power by a member of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Cabinet has sparked calls for the resignation of Secretary Pangandaman and resulted in critical media comments against him.

Trial by publicity

The Pangandamans claimed in their statements that the mayor, although he arrived late, had pre-registered and was simply catching up with the group; that permission had been sought from the marshal and that De la Paz had been informed.

In spite of this, the Pangandamans said the De la Paz flight fired golf balls in their direction on the fairway without shouting “fore,” endangering an 8-year-old child in their group and triggering the brawl on a tee and in the clubhouse.

Other members of the De la Paz family—reportedly the wife armed with a knife and a burly person carrying a baseball bat—attempted to join the fray that also involved armed bodyguards of the Pangandamans.

“If not for the timely intervention of the club’s security personnel and officers and other persons, the situation may have resulted in further violence and injuries,” the board said in its ruling.

Pangandaman Senior said the club ruling was “a vindication.”

“It confirmed what I have been saying from the very beginning,” he said.

He said that Bambee’s e-mail, widely used in newspaper accounts without the Pangandaman comment, had hurt the family.

“We were tried by publicity, but I know the truth will come out,” the agrarian reform secretary said. “It’s been painful for my family.”

He said his sons would pursue the criminal cases in court.

Ted Pastrana, lawyer of the Pangandamans, said he would use the club findings in the criminal case against the De la Paz family.

De la Paz cries foul

De la Paz called the club decision “unfair” and said he was willing to submit to a lie detector test to refute its findings.

“We were the ones who were mauled twice and yet we were the ones expelled,” De la Paz told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net). “What’s happening to our world. The truth doesn’t come out.”

He rued that the findings would ruin the career of his son. “He doesn’t seem to want to play any more.”