‘Unsaid’ quote came from phone interview

I write to clarify the statement attributed to me in the last part of the banner story titled “Keep opportunists out” (Front Page, 8/30/15).

In the part of the story under the subhead “Rally permit,” I was quoted as saying that “all hell broke (loose)” at Edsa-Shaw Boulevard on Friday night when the Iglesia ni Cristo protesters occupied the intersection.

I never uttered such statement. It was Inquirer reporter Jaymee Gamil who said this, and I only agreed with her that there was paralysis in traffic.

In fact, if you will look at the Inquirer.net story titled “Abalos: Rally permit granted to contain Iglesia ni Cristo protesters,” I was never quoted making such statement. In that story, the figure of speech “All hell broke loose” was used to describe the paralysis in traffic flow.

—BENJAMIN C. ABALOS JR., mayor, Mandaluyong City

***

I stand by my story. To my recollection, during our phone interview on Saturday (Aug. 29), when I asked him to confirm if he had already issued a permit for the rally in Edsa, he answered by first clarifying that he did not issue a permit for the rally on Friday (Aug. 28) and then proceeded to describe the situation on Friday as “all hell broke. Traffic was paralyzed.” Please note that the quoted phrase was stated immediately after a statement about the Friday rally which contributed largely to the traffic jam. It’s clearly apparent that he could not have been referring to anything else.

—JAYMEE T. GAMIL, reporter, Inquirer