THAT the son and namesake of Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman and his bodyguards viciously beat up a 56-year-old golfer and his 14-year-old son on a golf course, because of a misunderstanding about golf etiquette, is the sort of crime that strikes at the heart of the middle class—it captures the law-abiding citizen’s sense of vulnerability that has only grown during the Arroyo years.

That Pangandaman himself was on the scene and did nothing to stop the two beatings (apparently, his son was not content with just one) is the sort of criminal passivity that we have come to expect from the Arroyo administration.

Today, the police will file charges (including child abuse) against the young Pangandaman, Nasser Jr., who as it happens is mayor of Masiu, Lanao del Sur, and his goons, for assaulting Delfin de la Paz and son Bino on Friday, Dec. 26, at the Valley Golf Club. We will find out soon enough if President Macapagal-Arroyo shares the growing public outrage—or is maneuvering to help her Department of Agrarian Reform chief circle the wagons.

A post on the personal blog of De la Paz’s daughter Bambee, who was part of the golf flight that was attacked by the Pangandaman party, narrates the sometimes riveting details of the attacks.

“We leave. We walk to the clubhouse to file a complaint. My brother asks for a doctor. My dad could barely walk. Their group comes to the clubhouse, sees my brother. Once again my brother pleads, says sorry, and is crying. He was crying, for crissakes. But no. The relentless mayor still punches him in the face, and then sees my dad and goes after my dad again.” And then again: “I am pretty sure the Secretary of DAR did not take part in the fight, but he just watched all this happen.”

So at least we know that the largely invisible agrarian reform secretary is consistent. In the face of serious conflict (think Velez-Malaga, think Sumilao), he is passive.

Both Pangandamans will have their day in court, even if they apparently don’t believe in the rule of law that makes the very concept of day in court possible. But the De la Paz family and other outraged citizens are not without recourse even while the predictably slow wheels of justice grind. They can directly appeal to the President, a golfer herself who understands the underlying assumptions behind golfing etiquette, to ensure the minimum: an impartial investigation, a credible prosecution, a fair trial.

But not everything is up to the President’s discretion. Nothing prevents Secretary Pangandaman from going on indefinite leave, immediately, to avoid any perception of undue influence. This assumes, of course, that the man in charge of the government’s landmark social justice program understands that his son’s brutal behavior is a justice issue.

And nothing prevents the Department of Interior and Local Government from immediately beginning proceedings to place Mayor Pangandaman under preventive suspension. The abuse of power is self-evident. The victims and the witnesses all agree that the obscure, small-town mayor was motivated by an inflated sense of ego. “Hindi mo ba ako nakikilala? [Don’t you know me?],” he is reported to have kept saying, throughout the brutal attacks. Now we do.