THE great divide between officials and the public can be found in one simple sentence. “I appeal to the bloggers to stop this ... I hope this doesn’t happen to you bloggers,” said Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman, reacting to how the story of confrontation between his sons and the Dela Paz family at the Valley Golf Club won’t go away. Instead of pouring oil on troubled waters, Pangandaman’s appeal was more like pouring gasoline on the roaring flames of public opinion.

The official incident report submitted by Valley Golf’s security agency on Dec. 27, as reproduced online in the blog of Ding Gagelonia, bears quoting at length (fractured English and all): “On or about 1330 Hrs yesterday (Dec. 26, 2008) Argument occurred at hole no 06 South Course that resulted to physical injury involving Mayor Nasser Pangandaman Jr. and Sec. Nasser Pangandaman Sr. The physical injury victims are Mr. Delfin dela Paz Sr. and his son Bino Lorenzo dela Paz, 14 yrs. old.

“The victims and suspects of physical injury were all playing Golf at the time, but based on the statement of VGCCI Marshall/Starter ... at that time he talk already both parties but suddenly he was not expected that argument was not settled.

“Based on the statement of the caddy of Mayor Nasser Pangandaman … that he saw Mayor Pangandaman and Mr. Delfin dela Paz was talking conversation that resulted to trouble.

“According to our guard on Duty at Lobby… that the Registration Dept. called to him for assistance at Lower Veranda and he immediately proceeds to the area but upon reaching at the incident scene he saw Mr. Delfin dela Paz Sr. was bloodied his face and his 14 yrs old son ... was bloodied also his left side ears and many personal bodyguards of Mayor Pangandaman wearing civilian clothes armed with high power guns.”

This official account doesn’t necessarily contradict, but doesn’t necessarily confirm either, the emotionally charged accounts of the confrontation given by the Dela Pazes and the Pangandamans. But it does focus on issues that have galvanized public opinion, at least on the Internet, and to the extent that it was reported overseas. The primary issue, perhaps, is 14-year-old Bino dela Paz being beaten up. As many an outraged blogger and commenter on the Internet has put it, regardless of what actually led to the beating up, the assault on a minor is simply unpardonable. The secondary issue is how public anger over the incident hasn’t led to more than pro forma apologies from Secretary Pangandaman (and silence on the part of his son, the mayor).

Indeed, in the version of Bambee dela Paz—in her blog entry, which caused such a stir both online and off—the issue can be boiled down to that line allegedly uttered by Mayor Pangandaman: “Don’t you know who I am?” This is the sort of line that crystallizes an incident for many people, because they have had encounters with precisely the sort of sense of entitlement that leads public officials to use that line to dodge responsibility or play by the rules. For older Filipinos, the line used to be, “What are we in power for?” The line outraged citizens then; it’s contemporary version outrages citizens today.

It has outraged enough citizens for the story to keep on going. On Monday, even as Secretary Pangandaman, who wanted to prove his clout by spending the rest of the holidays in President Macapagal-Arroyo’s company, basks in her favor in the Cabinet meeting in Lanao, the case may be joined by the Dela Pazes formally filing charges. No one knows, of course, whether it will prosper or not; but for many, and their number may be growing, the case is a simple one, politically speaking. Pangandaman, according to Ang Kapatiran, should simply resign; his son, suspended.

Unlikely. Even at the height of the emotionalism triggered by the issue, the President never showed any signs of worrying about public opinion. Hers is a government completely oblivious to public outrage, because they can and will stonewall calls for resignation and drag out cases in court until the Dela Pazes are bankrupted or, when public attention wanes, intimidate them into settling the case.