Mauled cabbie won’t file case vs TV host

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS, VERA Files

The taxi driver mauled by a TV5 host has decided not to press charges after the latter apologized.

TJ Ballega Villanueva, son of cabbie Edward Villanueva, 49, of World Taxi, said his father and Irish-Filipino Daniel Marsh, one of the hosts of TV5’s documentary-style reality show “Juan Direction,” met on Monday at Raffy Tulfo’s “Wanted sa Radyo” program.

The young Villanueva said in a text message that they went to TV 5 on Monday after the network asked them to give a statement.

“Sa ‘Wanted sa Radyo,’ humarap po sa amin si Daniel. On air o ay hindi siya totally nag-sorry kay Papa, pero off- the- air po ay niyakap at naghingi ng ‘Sorry’ kay Papa. Humingi din po siya ng paumanhin sa akin bilang anak ni Papa sa ginawa niya (In ‘Wanted sa Radyo’ Daniel faced us. On air, he did not exactly say ‘sorry’ to my father, but off-the–air, he embraced my father and apologized. He also apologized to me for what he did).”

After guesting in ‘Wanted sa Radyo,’TJ posted in Facebook that the family, on the advice of friends and the church, decided not to file a case against Marsh and to leave everything to God.

TJ said his father is a lay minister in their parish church.

“Hindi po makayanan na nag lilingkod po sya sasimbahan at nag bibigay communion sa mga tao na meron syang kalaban (It would be incompatible for one who serves God and give communion),” his post read.

The Villanuevas also decided not to seek payment for damages Marsh caused to the vehicle “to prove that we are not after money as he earlier alleged.”

“We just hope that Daniel learned a lesson from the incident,” TJ said.

The younger Villanueva said they learned that Marsh’s father is in the hospital.

“Isa din po akong anak at isa din pong ama ang Papa ko kaya hindi namin kayang matiis na makita ang tatay na may sakit at mawawalan pa ng trabaho ang anak (I’m a son as well and my Papa is a father. We can’t bear it to see his father sick and he losing his job),” he said.

The older Villanueva said Marsh mauled him and kicked his cab in front of the Tivoli Garden Residences in Mandaluyong at a little past 5 a.m on July 23 after he insisted that the TV host pay the P78.50 fare registered in the taximeter.

Villanueva said Marsh claimed to have lost his wallet at the Prive Club at the Fort Taguig, where he had flagged down the cab, and wanted the ride to be free.

Marsh also reportedly threw P100 at the taxi driver after the mauling.

Marsh said in an TV interview, however, that Villanueva was charging him P500.

When the Villanuevas first sought the help of TV5, they were allegedly told to just file a case in court.

(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for “true.”)